Wanted
by FreakyPumpkin
Summary: "And you are?" "I am the weird guy that gets assigned to the weird cases." AU Alec works for the NYPD and gets assigned to the case of several mysterious thefts with his new partner Clarissa Fray, but then he realizes that with that one thief he gets more than he bargained for. (Just give it a chance, okay? Rated T for saftey.)
1. Chapter 1

**Hi :) so, I've read that post on tumblr and couldn't really get rid of the idea and started writing and even got to the point that I posted it ... and now, well, I'll see how you'll like it. :)**

**I'm not a native speaker, so I apologize for terrible grammar, typos, whatever mistakes you'll find. And I also hope that you might like it. :) And it's my first try on a TMI-FF.**

**Disclamer: Not mine and never will be.**

**Chapter1**

The first thing Alec noticed after waking up was that he couldn't move, the second was that the ringing of his phone had woken him up. The reason for the first one had four paws, two ears, one tail, way too much grey, fluffy fur and never listened to the name 'Church'. The reason for the second thing was a call.

Grumbling Alec let his right hand wander across the mattress next to his pillow in which he had currently buried most of his face. Finally his fingertips met the solid form of his vibrating phone. He moved one finger lazily across the screen to accept the call before moving his cell to the one ear that wasn't covered by the fabric of the pillowcase.

"Lightw-", he started, but was cut off halfway through his last name.

"Hey, Alec, it's me, Jace, great, that you are awake already. I need to talk to you in a very urgent matter, so move your sorry ass out of bed and meet me at Taki's."

And with that the line went dead. Alec stared at his phone whose screen had become dark again with narrowed eyes.

"Awake?", he mumbled. Then he let his head rest on his pillow for a few more moments before he attempted to get his cat off his back. "I wouldn't call that state of mind 'awake'. Maybe 'conscious'.'"

Nonetheless there had been something in the voice of his childhood friend that let worry bloom in his chest. Jace Herondale wasn't one to get nervous easily. He was the 'I'm always as cool as ice'-one. It was annoying as hell sometimes, but it also had helped Alec a great deal during his first panic attacks in college. He still felt a shiver run down his spine when the words 'Final exams' crossed his mind, but he had gotten through it without attempting suicide. That had been a great success which had lead straight to the worst hangover that had ever happened to him. Both with the help of said childhood friend.

"Church! Get off!", Alec yelled halfheartedly at the cat that was still lying stretched out across his lower back. "Umpf."

Alec took a deep breath and carefully rolled onto one side. Church glided down onto the mattress. At first the cat didn't really realize what was happening, but as soon as he started noticeable gliding some kind of panic reflex kicked in and Church buried his claws in Alec's skin through the oversized T-shirt he slept in. Alec's eyes flew open and a not so very nice curse died on his lips as his nerves transferred the pain from his lower back straight to his brain.

"Holy-!"

He jumped out of the bed, almost sending Church flying across the mattress. Luckily the cat managed to detangle its claws from the fabric of the shirt before disappearing into the living room with an angry hiss. Alec watched Church's tail disappear beneath the couch, then stretched his back, carefully flexing the muscles of his arms. The pain already started to fade, but from experience Alec knew that there would be dark red traces left on his pale skin for at least a few days. Slowly Alec let his fingertips wander across the already forming bruises, but sharp burn made him stop. Maybe the pain wasn't really fading yet.

"You are so getting your claws cut the next time I'll get you within arm's length of a vet", he muttered under his breath before making his way to the bathroom.

Jace seemed like he was about to tear every napkin apart the could get his hands on. When he noticed Alec at the entrance of the small diner, his face lit up as if the older Lightwood was the solution to all the problems of the world. It made Alec want to turn around and run away ... very fast, very far.

"Hey, Jace, what's up?", he asked suspiciously as he sat down in front of his best friend. On his way over to Taki's Alec had ragged his brain for the reason of Jace's call. The only things he could think of were that somebody got shot, kidnapped, blackmailed ... everything else was way to close to 'completely stupid' to be taken into serious consideration. But it still didn't really explain why Jace wanted to talk to him alone at the diner and not his office. Maybe it had nothing to do with there work?

They both worked for the NYPD, but while Jace was a big shot at the homicide squad, Alec had become kind of a handyman of the different departments. He mostly got assigned to cases of theft or kidnapping. The main reason he never crossed formal paths with the homicide squad and why he reluctantly refused to even consider becoming Jace's partner was the fact that his father, Robert Lightwood, was the head of this squad. And one could say that Alec's relationship with his father had ... suffered due to his son's coming out at the age of seventeen. It had been awkward silences from then on and on his eighteenth birthday Alec had left his parent's house. He still held contact with his mother and of course with his sister Isabelle and his younger brother Max, but he never exchanged more words than necessary with his father.

Now that Alec was twenty-five he had simply gotten annoyed by his fathers - in his opinion - childish behaviour. Alec was over there quarrel of his 'inadmissible' sexuality or the terrible need to earn his fathers pride. His father held another opinion, but Alec had stopped caring about it. He had decided to go on with his life. So Alec took pride in his work, which he was actually quite good at. He still refused to wear a suit. He had actually a sweater with the word 'SUIT' printed across the front which he wore to official meetings.

"Okay, first of all, you have to promise me to listen till the end. Promise?"

Alec raised one eyebrow and tried to fight down the urge to flee the diner again. Jace looked at him with his hands raised defensively and like he wanted to make him join a new sect.

"Did you finally get one of your one-night-stands pregnant?", Alec wanted to know with a steady voice while leaning back in his chair. Jace blinked and then made a face of pure disbelief.

"Wha-? No!"

"Okay, I promise to listen till the end, but first I want coffee."

Jace nodded and Alec waved at the waitress. She took his order and disappeared again. The minutes till she returned with the filled cup, passed in heavy silence that made Alec grew wary again as he watched Jace kneading his hands and intently watching the people outside through the window of the diner.

"Here you go."

The waitress placed the cup in front of Alec and he thanked her while he placed his hands around the cup. He lifted the cup to his lips to take a first -

"Okay, you will get assigned to a new case today and they'll offer you to work with a partner - this new girl - and I want you to accept her - as your partner, I mean."

Alec stopped in the middle of his movements and stared at Jace. Was that a pleading tone he could make out in his voice? Was that even possible? A pleading Jace? Did he wake up in the right space-time-continuum? But - wait, WHAT?

"Partner?!" Alec almost chocked on his own saliva. "My partner?"

Jace nodded, his eyes never leaving the face of his friend. Alec placed the cup back down on the table, maybe with a bit too much force. A bit of coffee spilled over.

"No, Jace! I don't work with a partner!"

"She is a really nice girl, Alec."

"She could be the Dalai Lama and I'd still say no!"

Jace rolled his eyes at Alec's stubborn recline and Alec felt the tiniest sting of a guilty conscience, but he had made up his mind for this part of his career. He had a list of priorities hanging on his bedroom wall. The first thing on there was 'Be with the one that makes you happy'. In second place there stood 'Never ever working with a partner.' and that was it. Alec knew he wasn't a social butterfly and he knew that his way of doing his work was looked down on by the most of his colleagues. He was the rotten apple of the department, but he was simply to damn good at his job to be fired and he was also the one who got assigned to the cases nobody wanted to work on ... and he mostly solved them or at least brought the culprit down, one way or another. This brought some benefits with it (one of them being not to be forced wearing a suit) and the other one was that his way of working wasn't questioned as strictly as it maybe should be done. They left him alone with the rules and guidelines as long as he was successful.

"Please, Alec, do me a favor and say yes. You could polish your social skills while working with her", Jace suggest hopefully. Alec glared at him and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Why is this so important to you, anyway? It's not like you'll be involved in this, is it?", he wanted to know.

"No, but I like her - and she's good at her job, really promising, and she will be a great help on that new case."

Alec sighed heavily. Right, he mentioned a new case.

"What kind of case is it that I'd need her unbelievable talent?", he quipped, but Jace's serious face made him regret the sarcasm right away. There seemed to be more to it than normally.

"They plan on assigning you to the Warlock-Thefts."

Alec took another gulp of his coffee while he let Jace's words sink in. He had actually wondered when he 'd get assigned to that one because no other agent seemed to get anywhere with the investigations on that one. They were a group of three people; one woman, two men, as far as the police knew. There had been several break-ins during the last months and every time the thieves had gotten into and out of completely sealed off rooms. Like they were using magic, which made Alec roll his eyes whenever it was mentioned among his colleagues because if one looked close enough there was always a missing spare key or a bribed servant in the house; there was no such thing as magic. In secret Alec was actually fascinated by these thefts and he had been dreaming - with enough alcohol in his system even praying - to be assigned to those. But now that it really was about to happen ...

"What happened to Starkweather? Wasn't he assigned to it?"

Jace simply shrugged. "Tripped and fell - so what about it, Alec? Will you try it?"

"There is no trying, Jace, if I say 'yes' now I'll have to drag her through the whole thing."

"She won't be a hindrance to you, I promise."

Alec shoved the thoughts of work and thieves and annoying partners aside for a moment. His gaze lingered on Jace and he placed his chin on his right hand while looking his best friend over very closely.

"Spit it out, Jace, what is it with this girl? And what will happen if I say 'no'."

Jace met his gaze squarely.

"She'll become the partner of Morgenstern."

Now the things started making sense. Sebastian Morgenstern was another agent on the theft-department and Jace hated his guts; not necessary to mention that Sebastian wasn't Jace's greatest fan either. And if that 'girl' was so very important to Jace as it seemed to be, he'd rather change departments than let it happen any other way. Alec took a deep breath. Jace was his best friend and there were still a few things he owed him for. He pursed his lips and took another sip of his coffee.

"I'll give it a try", Alec mumbled against the rim of his cup. Jace was about to jump from his chair and hug Alec like there was no tomorrow, but right at this moment Alec's phone went off. He accepted the call, listened for a few seconds and then grinned lazily at Jace who looked at him inquiring.

"A partner? No kidding ... and a new case? What a surprise."

The light of the computer was the only thing that broke the darkness of the room. It sent scary shadows across Catarina's face as she looked through the different files she had just downloaded. Suddenly a quiet 'ping' made her aware of a new email. She opened it, read the short message and let out a whistle.

"Hey, Magnus", she called out towards the bathroom. "You might want to see this."

The door of the bathroom opened and a young man with a tall and slender frame emerged. The shadows of the room wandered across the tanned skin of his bare chest as he made his way over to the mattress Catarina was sitting on. His black hair was down, still damp from the shower, and a blue towel covered his shoulders.

"What is it?", he asked disinterested and with a hint of fatigue in his voice. It had been a long day.

Catarina moved a bit so he got a better look at the screen of her laptop. There was the picture of a young man visible. He had black, disheveled hair and blue eyes that glared at the camera when the picture had been taken ... or at Magnus right now.

"They assigned a new agent to our case", Catarina explained. Magnus raised one eyebrow.

"Wow, they have gotten fast - we just got rid of that Starkweather-guy", he mumbled while his eyes were still fixed on the picture of the black-haired man.

"His name is Alexander Lightwood."

Magnus nodded absent-mindedly and took a bottle of water from the nightstand next to the makeshift bed. "Well, let's see what he is made of."

With that he opened the bottle and downed almost half of it at once. He loved long, hot showers, but they dried him out terribly. Catarina looked at him with a raised eyebrow of her own.

"That's all?", she asked, "Blue eyes and black hair and you are not already swooning?"

Magnus frowned at her. "So?", he challenged, "just because I have a type doesn't mean that I'm head over heels for everybody with the right coloring."

She still fixed him with an inquiring look. Magnus rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Yes, he is cute, okay? But if I have learned something from that ... incident with Camille then that good looks don't really help with a bad personality."

Catarina nodded slowly and then simply shrugged. She went back to looking through her other files as well as she'd start a background check on the new agent later on. Magnus on the other hand was relieved that she had let him off the hook. He strode over towards the one big window in the room looking at the silhouette of the New York skyline. A little smile appeared on his lips as he drummed a simple melody against the plastic bottle with his fingers. Blue sparks dancing between his fingertips.

_Alec, hm?_

This could be fun.

**So, what do you think? Should I go on? Should I stop? Please don't flame, I'm self-concious about this story already.  
****Sry for Jace being kinda OOC. Please review! :)**

**Bye FreakyPumpkin  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi ;) first of all, updating this fast isn't normal for me. It's just that I was simply stunned by the amount of reviews I've gotten for the first chapter. (YOU ARE AWESOME! Hopefully I'll keep you interested.) :D Yeah, that and the fact that I have holidays and don't have to work. :)**

**This chapter takes after the talk between Alec and Jace in the first chapter. I actually had only planned a Flashback, but it got slightly out of hand. And I had to kind of get some information passed before really picking up the main story. Well, anyway, I hope you enjoy the second chapter. :) **

**Chapter 2**

Clary was excited and terrified at the same time. On the one hand she had finally finished her training and would get to work out in the field - nor more dry, boring theory -, but on the other hand the partner she was planned to team up with. Alexander Lightwood. Clary had never met him during her training, but she had heard rumors about him. They ranged from him being anti-social to being autistic or even downright crazy. It was said that his last partner got missing after getting the wrong pizza for dinner at the archives. But Clary wasn't one to prejudge people she didn't know, so she had simply decided not let her opine be influenced by the slightly terrifying stories she had heard about this guy. Unfortunately her heartbeat did get influenced nonetheless. It was beating almost forcefully strong in her chest, jamming against her ribcage, while she was waiting for her new partner to arrive. She sat in the office of her new boss, Luke Garroway, who was the head of the theft-department. He was studying some papers lying on his desk in front of him. From time to time he'd look up and smile at her.

"No need to worry, he should be here any second", he reassured her after a while of her nervous fidgeting in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. Clary took a deep breath and nodded, trying to return the smile which didn't really work out. The corners of her mouth simply refused to move upwards.

'I wouldn't have a problem if he'd be sick today ... or missing for the rest of the week', she thought, but also chided herself for the growing fear in her guts. 'Come on, Fray, you can do this, maybe the rumors are just plain bullshit and he actually is a really nice guy.'

A light knocking behind her, made Clary jump a little. Mr. Garroway also raised his head and smiled broadly at the person in the doorframe.

"Ah, Lightwood, good to see you", he said while getting up from his chair behind the desk. He stepped forward and rose his hand to shake the one of the person behind Clary - presumably that was Alexander Lightwood. Clary got up from her chair as well and turned around.

Next to Mr. Garroway stood a young man that had to be at least six foot tall with disheveled, ink-black hair, pale skin and the brightest blue eyes Clary had ever seen. Alexander was wearing some washed out blue jeans, a white T-Shirt and a black hoodie jacket. Clary narrowed her eyes a little as her gaze passed the print on the T-Shirt. It was the face of a teddybear with a murderous look in his eyes and beneath that there was a sign that said 'Don't call me cute.' Clarys eyes wandered back to Alexanders face. He seemed to have the same problem with the corners of his mouth, but she met his deepening frown fearless. 'Come on', she told herself, 'he doesn't seem so bad, a bit moody, but not that 'crazy killer'-kind of bad. Right?'

"Nice to meet you, my name is Clarissa Fray, but you can call me Clary ... if you like."

She stretched out her own hand as well. The gaze of the agent in front of her shifted from her face to her hand. He didn't copy the gesture, he didn't take her hand and he didn't introduce himself. Instead he turned to look at Mr. Garroway.

"I'm only doing this because Jace asked me to." It sounded like a clarification of some sort to which Clary didn't know the reason. Luke simply nodded and raised his hands a little in a defensive gesture. Okay, maybe Alexander wasn't a killer, but a blackmailer of some sort? The sort of guy you don't want to meet in a dark alleyway? Just in time Clary managed to bite back a heavy sigh. So much for her not-prejudging-plan. She noticed that her hand wouldn't be needed for a friendly shake and she let it down again. Her new partner turned his attention back to her.

"I don't like you", he stated calmly and with these words he turned around and left the office.

Clary stared after the retreating figure, stunned into silence. Son of a - no, Clary, no cussing, no killing new partners in their sleep. Great, she thought, now I am the one with the killer-instinct. A light touch to her shoulder let her snap out of her thoughts ... and bloody fantasies. She blinked at Mr. Garroway, who now stood next to her with an encouraging smile on his lips. This guy was a smiley one.

"Give him a chance, okay?"

Clary managed a nod and with that she gained back the control of her body.

"Move it, the work won't get itself done!", Alexander called over his shoulder and Clary hurriedly stumbled after him. Not loosing sight of him was rather easy because of his height, but catching up with him was a complete different story. Damn, that guy was one fast walker. But Clary had been a member of the track and field club in highschool which paid off in situations like this. She caught up with Alexander on the staircase between the fourth and the third floor.

"Hey, wait a second, where are we going?"

Alexander stopped instantly, so Clary almost crashed into his back. Almost. He turned around, looking at her for a while with a look in his eyes that she couldn't read.

"You", he finally said. Clary blinked.

"What?"

He rolled his eyes, but she didn't feel the tiniest bit guilty. He was an agent of the NYPD for crying out loud and therefore should be able to build complete sentences when talking to other people.

"Where you are going."

"Come again?"

"I'll walk you down to the archives, so you can get started on the research, Helen will help you to find all the files concerning the warlock-thefts."

See, didn't hurt, right?, Clary thought irritated. She bit back a snappy response and instead focused on another question that accured to her.

"And what are you going to do?"

"I'll get coffee." He checked his watch and Clary thought that maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all. "I'm meeting my sister in half an hour, so hurry up."

Clary glared at his back as he started walking down the stairs again.

Alec hated Starbucks and at the same time he didn't. He had always thought that there was no way that something could ruin coffee for him, but he was proven wrong. The mixture of caramel, vanilla flavor, milk and too much whipped cream did a very good job at that. Alec sighed as he took the cup with the 'coffee' Isabelle had ordered him. (Since he had started a fight with one of the employes at another coffee-shop, he wasn't allowed to order his own when he was out with his sister.) Mournfully he looked down at the cup while Isabelle got some sugar for her own ... coffee-latte-chai-thing.

"What happened to the dark, hot liquor I used to put sugar in?", he muttered to himself.

"It committed suicide because of the annoying guy with the sugar."

Alecs head snapped up at the sound of a well-known smooth, dark voice which always kind of reminded him of freshly brewed black coffee. The voice belonged to a young man with tanned skin and black hair that was always styled into artistic spikes. His eyes were of arch gold-green that went pretty good with the dark green uniform of the Starbucks-staff. The employee leaned against the counter, placing his elbows on top of it as he sent Alec a challenging smile. Alec pursed his lips and glared at him which didn't seem to faze the other man at all.

"I don't think coffee can commit suicide", he muttered under his breath. It wasn't his smoothest retort, but it was better than standing there without saying anything. The smile of the employee turned into an amused grin.

"You sure about that?"

"Yeah."

They stared at each other a little while longer without saying something. Alec's mind went haywire with all the things he wanted to say, but couldn't bring his lips to actually speak the words. 'are you single?' 'Are you gay? Maybe bi?' 'Do you want to go out with me?' 'I love the way the light reflects on your numerous earrings.' 'You do an amazing job with the makeup, but I'm sure you'd look just as good without it.' Yeah, he definitely had a crush on this guy.

Frustrated with his own inability to do small talk Alec looked down at his coffee, while ragging his brain of things he could say and which weren't things like 'Nice weather today'. But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by his sister's voice that was calling for him. Alec raised his head again. Isabelle had already taken place at one of the tables near the window and was waving him over with a questioning look. Alec sent a short glance back across the counter. The good-looking employee was gone. It left Alec standing there like an idiot. He sighed and made his way over to his sister.

"So? Did you ask him out?", she wanted to know as Alec took a seat across from her. He frowned at her.

"No", he replied as if stating something absolutely obvious. Isabelle just rolled her eyes at him.

"God, Alec, this way you are bound to die alone ... and a virgin."

It didn't really surprise Alec that to his sister the latter held the greater horror.

After finishing school Isabelle had announced that she didn't want to follow their parents (and her brother) into a career of crime-fighting which was met with almost the same enthusiasm as Alec's coming out. Robert and Maryse had questioned if their daughter would be able to earn enough money on her own to support her daily life because they refused to pay for some 'girlish dream' with no money in it. Without further ado Isabelle had gotten a part-time job, saved some money and had moved to Paris for one year. This way and by surviving the trip she had effectively proven her parents wrong. When she had gotten back she had enrolled in NYU to study design. Alec had to admit that he was very proud of his little sister. Though it didn't make it easier for him to explain his inability to talk to other people, given that she had taken the plane to France without knowing a word of French; maybe some basics. Isabelle lived her life in a 'Do the things that scare you'-way, while Alec was more a 'Do the things your good at'-guy.

"Izzy, let it go, okay? My life, my relationships. Remember the deal we had in highschool?"

She looked like she was about to protest, nut decided against it and simply shrugged. "Okay, okay, so if not your not-existent love life, what did you to want to talk about?"

Isabelle took a sip of her coffee before looking at Alec expectantly. He sighed. The upcoming topic wouldn't really be a more pleasant one than his 'love life'.

"I got a new partner, a girl named Clarissa Fray and-"

Isabbelle's eyebrows almost disappeared into her hairline.

"Seriously? Did you lose a bet? No, wait, did she lose a bet?"

Alec glared at her, but his sister didn't care.

"Nobody lost a bet; Jace asked me to accept her as my partner. I would have refused if it hadn't been for him."

Isabelle slowly nodded.

"'Kay, go on", she said a bit absent-mindedly.

"Well, I did it to do Jace a favor, but there also is a damn good reason why I would have refused to work with her normally." Alec stared into his cup while talking. He didn't have to look up because he knew that one of his sisters perfectly trimmed eyebrows was hiked up without looking up. Was he really going to drink that caramel stuff? "My social skills are ... not the best-"

"No, they are awful."

"-and that is exactly why I probably will have her planning my disposal after the next day of work. I can't have that while trying to catch three of the best thieves since the 'Pink Panther'. Therefore, Izzy, I need your help. She also seems to be very important to Jace and I don't really want her to complain to him what a terrible person I am."

After the last words Alec looked up again. He had decided to give the caramel-thing a shot and took a sip. Like expected it was too sweet, but at least he could taste the actual coffee, somewhere between the vanilla flavor and the whipped cream. Before he could think about the possibility that there was also something that tasted like cocos, his sister spoke up.

"You want her to like you?", she asked with a calm voice and Alec could have hugged her like there was no tomorrow. Isabelle loved to mock him about his 'awful social skills', but she also knew when he seriously needed her help.

"No, it would be a great help if she didn't fantasize about the different ways of killing me."

Isabelle pursed her lips and tipped her forefinger against it.

"Okay, and I guess you met her already?"

Alec nodded. He knew where this was leading, but there was no going back now.

"You talked to her?"

Another nod.

"What did you say?"

"I don't like you."

Isabelle sighed heavily and leaned back in her chair. She looked her older brother over closely.

"Why did you say that?"

Alec took a deep breath. He had asked himself the same thing over and over again since he had said it without getting even close to an answer. There simply was something about Clary that ticked him off. Something that annoyed the hell out of him and he had no idea what it was or what it could be.

"I don't know", he answered truthfully. "There is just something about her ... that pisses me off. But I only have to get through this one case with her and- why are you smiling like that?"

Isabelle had different ways of smiling and most of them were downright unnerving. The smile that started growing on her lips right now reached a complete new level of unnerving.

"You say, Jace likes her?", Isabelle asked sweetly. Alec nodded slowly and his sister's smile grew even wider. She was almost grinning. "Maybe she's good influence for him ... and for you."

Now Alec was sure his own eyebrows disappeared somewhere into the black strands of his hair. She was up to something and that was very rarely something good.

"I'll visit you at work tomorrow to get an idea of her personality, but she could be the great opportunity for you polish you social skills, big bro." Isabelle winked. Alec didn't like it when his sister winked at him; not with that smile or in this situation. This was bad, very bad. He sat in front of her, stunned into silence. She was supposed to help him, getting through this one case without getting killed in his sleep, not to get him engaged into more social contact than necessary. His inner turmoil had to be obviously written across his face. Isabelle rolled her eyes at him again.

"Come on, don't look like a deer caught in the headlights. You had to know that the day would come when you had to move out of your comfort zone and actually talk to other people besides me, Jace or Max."

Alec drummed his fingers against his cup. The last time they had talked about his comfort zone it had let to him coming out to his parents and that had let to the worst year of his life. Sure good things als had come out of it, but Alec was actually looking forward to the upcoming year.

"I like my comfort zone", he muttered, but he also knew that he had already lost this battle. He downed his 'coffee' and gasped at the sheer amount of sugar contained in that one cup.

Around two in the morning of the next day he started cursing his little sister because he wasn't able to fall sleep. He hated Starbucks.

**So, that's it for the second chapter. :) What do you think? I hope I didn't go too far with the OOCness.**

**Leave a review. Tell me what you liked and what you didn't like and no, I'm not a great fan of Sturbucks or a coffee-drinker. ^^**

**Bye FreakyPumpkin.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey there, it's me again. :D Okay, first of all THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCH! I am so very happy that you seem to like this story so much. :D It makes the writing so much more fun. ^^ **

**And I finally found out how to insert those funny grey lines. x3 So, with this chapter I tried to thicken the plot a little and I hope you like it. :)**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine. (as it wasn't last chapter, too) Same goes for 'Castle' of course. :)**

**Chapter 3**

When Alec awoke the next morning, there was no cat lying on his back (Church hadn't so much as glanced at him since the morning before), but a text from Isabelle.

'Don't hide in your apartment, dear brother, go to work. I'll come by to check on you and your new partner - but before that, make sure you get her coffee, partners do that to bond, trust me, I've watched all seasons of Castle.'

Alec stared at the screen. For a short while he contemplated to point out that a) she wouldn't even get into the building without him there to let her in (he highly doubted that Robert Lightwood would let her in in his stead) and b)that he had no intention of bonding with Clarissa Fray in the same way Castle and Beckett had 'bonded' at the end of the fourth season. He decided against it, but he also thought that the coffee-thing could work.

"Okay", he muttered as he detangled himself from his comforter. During the night he tended to get wrapped up in the blanket because he was rolling around so much. He also got cold easily. "Let's get coff-umpf."

With the last word hr missed the edge of his bed and with his feet still caught up in the comforter he gracefully kissed the floor. Though slightly opposed to the taste of carpet in the morning, this way Alec found out that the slippers he had been searching for the last four days had simply 'disappeared' under his bed.

"There you are-" Accompanied by a dead rat. "CHURCH!"

Fortunately both things hadn't spent the same amount of time beneath the bed.

* * *

Alec dumped the rat into the waste container outside the building his apartment was located in. Now he was only left the task of getting coffee. That shouldn't be too difficult and he would definitely not get it at ... okay, he went to that one Starbucks.

"Having a crush sucks", Alec grumbled while he stood outside the coffee shop looking up at the logo. A mermaid with two tails. What did mermaids have to do with coffee? And he was getting off topic again. Cautiously Alec glanced inside. Come on, he chided himself, it's just getting coffee, an everyday-thing that gets accomplished by so many people with a lower IQ then yourself. Sure, because Sheldon Cooper proofed that a high IQ helped to survive your everyday-life, cut in a little voice in the back of Alecs head. He stared at the ground for a few seconds. I would have gotten beaten up pretty bad in highschool if the other kids could have read my mind, he realized. Not, that he wasn't able to get back at them, but still.

He focused his concentration back at the task at hand. Coffee. He'd just tell them to get black coffee ... and threaten them to cut off their hands if they even think of touching on of the containers with caramel or another funny flavor? Yeah, because that had worked out so very well in the past.

Alec took a deep breath and reminded himself of the very low possibility that his crush would be working this morning as well. Yes, he wanted to see him again, but at the same time he didn't. With his pretty much non-existent social skills he'd surely say something stupid like yesterday, like every damn time he got confronted with those amazing green eyes. Well, he could still just turn around and get the coffee somewhere else. Starbucks wasn't the only - DAMN!

Alec's eyes locked with a pair of gold-green ones.

His crush stood behind the counter looking straight at Alec who was frozen outside of the shop. Two other colleagues were fixing drinks for hustling businessmen. All of that didn't seem to faze the green-eyed employee at all. He seemed to be one of those people who would stay calm and focused even if the whole world crumbled around them.

The first thing that crossed Alec's mind when it was working again, was 'He knows that I'm stalking him ... or crushing at him.'

He waved at Alec and Alec felt the strong urge to hit his head against something solid, very solid. A wall would probably do. If he'd walk away he'd look like a coward or give the impression that he wasn't as interested as he actually was. The guy had smiled at him, hadn't he? He hadn't threatened him b moving the fingertip of is index finger across his throat. (Alec had received that gesture as well from another staff member at another Starbucks and hopefully those two would never meet.) On the other hand if he walked in now, he was bound to make a fool of himself or even freak out ... which would kind of lead to the same outcome. Yes, he was touchy when it came to coffee.

Alec's feet however didn't give a damn and moved on their own. Before Alec could decide any other way he stood at the end of the line. A line that moved way too fast and way too soon Alec could hear that smooth, dark voice, he thankfully hadn't dreamt about yet, asking him:

"What can I get you?"

Alec opened his mouth as it suddenly dawned on him that he had no real idea what even to get for Clarissa. So he simply did what he did best - he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

"Coffee." Awesome he managed one word.

The professional smile of his crush turned into the mocking grin he had seen so many times before. Amusement sparkled in these shining green orbs.

"Good start, what else?"

Behind him Alec could hear exasperated sighs and he felt his face grew warm. When he was younger, he had blushed at almost everything that one could blush at. His pale complexion wasn't helping with that problem or as he liked to call it, the nightmare of his not so very happy childhood. But he had gotten better at controlling himself, his nerves (at least to the point that not everything was shown on the surface) and he even managed to work out a breathing-strategy to fight down blushes. Right now, all of these achievements went out of the window and Alec hated himself for it. He hated shops like Starbucks where everything had to go fast, had to work fast and everyone who wasn't able to keep up got trampled upon. Why couldn't this guy work at a store that sold gummy bears?

To his surprise the employee - whose name Alec really should figure out - smiled at him sympathetically and indicated with a slight movement of his head that he wanted Alec to follow him a bit farther along the counter; away from the waiting line. This way they were standing at the same spot they had talked to each other - or bickered? - yesterday.

"So, now that there's a little less pressure", Alec's crush folded his arms on top of the counter. Where was that bloody name tag? "What can I get you?"

His smile was missing the usual teasing attire. it actually seemed honest and genuine. It was ... nice. Alec felt himself relaxing a little.

"Uhm, I wanted to get coffee for my new partner, but I actually have no real idea what to get for her or what she likes ... but I was also not very nice to her yesterday and wanted to ... well, make up for it by getting her coffee. Does that make any sense?"

The man behind the counter pursed his lips and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Then he simply shrugged.

"I'd say yes." He offered Alec a comforting smile. "Starting the way with coffee is always a good way to ... bond."

Alec hiked one eyebrow at that last word, but didn't press the matter. Isabelle wouldn't - well, technically, she could, but Alec really hoped that she didn't.

"Yeah, well, I take one coffee, black, for me and ... something for her. Any suggestions?"

Alec nervously drummed his long fingers against the counter. Now he was determined to get through this one order and leave the shop with his head held high. Isabelle wanted him to move out of his comfort zone, well, challenge accepted. If he acted on his own in this maybe he could minimize the damage his sister could do by forcing him out of said comfort zone. She had kind of forced him out of the closet, he should be able to get the rest of the way done on his own.

"How about a mix?"

Alec snapped out of his thoughts and blinked at the man in front of him.

"A what?"

* * *

When Alec arrived at the archives, he found Clary lying on the floor, surrounded by stacks of paper that hid her almost completely. First he feared she was dead which would have been a perfect reason to never have to work with a partner again. But Jace would probably try killing him in his sleep instead and so Alec rushed over to the redhead. He placed the bag with the 'coffee-mix' on a nearby table. A great wave of relieve rushed over him when Alec noticed that she was still breathing. Clary had simply fallen asleep.

"I guess I should wake her up", Alec muttered.

He looked at her. Her chest rose and fell in a steady rhythm. Her lips were parted slightly. Her hair was a fiery mess and she was drooling. Alec poked her experimentally.

"Hey you ... wake up."

Clary stirred and Alec backed away instantly. He had had enough mornings during school waking up Isabelle and getting smacked in the face with a pillow on a regular basis led to developing certain reflexes. Though this time he'd get spared. Clary opened her eyes slowly and stifled a yawn.

"Where am I?", she mumbled as she sleepily took in her surrounding. Alec cocked his head and watched her getting up into a sitting position. He hesitated before giving an answer.

"Uhm, in the archives, NYPD-building ... hum. New York, United States of America ... North America." Alec wasn't sure how far her disorientation went, but guessing by the funny look she sent him, he'd overdone it a little. A heavy silence settled around them. Alec cleared his throat.

"Hi ... have-did you sleep here? Over the night."

Clearly not the smartest thing he'd ever said. Clary raised an eyebrow at him, but fortunately she seemed to tired to give a snide remark. She simply nodded. Though that didn't really help because Alec suddenly felt a pang of guilty conscience for leaving her there yesterday. Nervously he bit his lower lip. He had to sort this out now or it wouldn't let them get anywhere with the case, no to mention that he would be risking his friendship with Jace. Alec took a deep breath and sat up straight.

"We have to talk", he announced bluntly. The moment Alec had made up his mind about something, it became surprisingly easy for ohm to talk about it. Sadly, it only worked this way when it came to confronting problems or conflicts. Small Talk followed different rules. Clary crossed her legs, hastily pulled a few strands of red hair behind her ear and swiped her chin with the sleeve of her pullover. Finally she nodded and stared at Alec expectantly.

"Well, we didn't have the best start yesterday-"

Clary shook her head.

"-and I wanted to ... well, apologize for it. it was wrong of me to treat you the way I did. You are my partner and no my assistant ... if you still want to work with me, that is. I'm not very good with ... well, people in general, but I promos to work on it."

The following silence was thick and heavy. Alec found his lungs having problems to drag in a breath of air. In his opinion he had gotten through it quite nicely. Calm, collected, with a steady voice. The words had sounded as honest as he had meant them, so why shouldn't they sound the same to Clary's ears? Suddenly Alec's eyes drfted over to the bag he had brought with him.

"Oh, and I've brought coffee ... and tea, because I didn't know if you actually drink coffee or if you prover tea, oh, and there are also different sorts and flavors and stuff. I don't really like Starbucks, but I went there anyway and I drink my coffee black with sugar ... normally without sugar actually, but I'm having kind of a sweet-phase at the moment so-"

A hand on his mouth brought his rambling to and immediate end. Alec's gaze wandered from the hand Clary pressed over his mouth to her face. She looked at as if he was an exotic animal she didn't know yet how to treat.

"Shut up", she stated calmly and after Alec had nodded she retrieved her hand. He watched her as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I forgive you."

A simple statement. A good statement.

"But only of I'm allowed to kick you in the shins whenever you start acting like an asshole as you did yesterday."

And there was the catch.

Alec swallowed heavily. Agreeing to this condition was the right thing, the best thing to do right now. Still his lips refused to form the word 'yes' and his head didn't want to nod. He still had his dignity, didn't he? If not as an detective then as a grown man who survived the last seven years on his own. (Well, there was that one week ... but he and Jace had sworn to never talk about it again.) He wouldn't give in to a rookie detective who was not only younger, but also about one foot shorter than him.

"If you promise not to question my way of doing my work", he demanded. "And no kicking in the shins in inappropriate situations."

Clary's eyebrows disappeared into her hairline.

"What would count as inappropriate", she asked bewildered. Alec couldn't blame her. She hadn't seen him climbing on balconies, hanging from roof rail or jumping into rivers ... yet.

"You'll see." But as only one of her eyebrows came back down he added quickly: "Nothing sexual."

With that a relieved smile crept onto her lips and she nodded.

"Okay, deal."

"Deal."

They shook hands to seal it. Yes, Alec told himself, you can do this.

About four hours later, Alec started growing accustomed to the taste of caramel. Maybe that Frappuccino-thing wasn't actually that bad, but had only a very weird name. Alec's gaze lingered on the blueprint of some rich guy's house in Florida. Or maybe this a way of his brain telling him how very much fucked up this whole case was.

Despite the fact that Clary actually already had gotten coffee from Simon, a guy of the IT-department, the two of them had started to empty the Starbucks-cups together. Therefore Clary was now sipping on an Iced Shaken Hibiscus Tea.

She had found out that there had been a couple of thefts in Florida that were similar to the ones that had occurred in New York during the last few months. There were ten break-ins reported, six of them were reported thefts as well. Four times nothing had been stolen or destroyed. The only trace that had been found and even indicated that somebody had broken in, were ... paw prints. Exactly. THe footprints of a cat, a very small cat. No scratches on the doorframe, no turned off cameras, no shadowy figures hanging around the house the days before the break-in. There were no fingerprints, no single hair.

Alec started to understand how everybody had gotten the idea that magic was involved. Hell, these thieves even changed the pins of safes and all they took from the money inside was ten-dollar-bill. The break-ins in Florida had occurred eight years ago, during a span of two years. Ten in two years. In New York there were already five break-ins in only three months. Did they become greedy? Or bored?

The paw prints had been found as well, on every crime scene, but always in another room than the one where something was missing. Alec suspected it to be for the sake of diversion. It gave the thief a head start. He frowned at the blueprint in front of him, then sighed and closed the file.

"This doesn't get us anywhere", he mumbled while rubbing his closed eyes. Clary looked up from her own pile of scattered papers.

"Do you have another plan?", she asked. There were shadows under her eyes and the exhaustion could be heard clear in her voice, lacing every word. Alec sighed once again.

"Not really, but let's wrap up what we've got so far, eventually something will stand out."

Clary nodded and stretched her arms over her head. Alec pulled out his notebook from beneath the report of the last break-in in Florida.

"Okay, the first theft occurred the night of August 24th at the Daryaran-villa ... right here." He pointed at one of the red pins they had placed on a map of New York next to the table they were sitting at. A map of Florida with blue pins scattered across lay right beside it. "Then ten days later on September 3rd, at the Zehava's place. The family was gone that night from seven o'clock till midnight, so it must have happened in the span of these five hours." Alec's pen moved to the next pin. "On September 19th, the break-in at Wall Street, the only one by now where nothing had been taken."

"Diversion?", Clary suggested.

"Not sure yet", Alec replied.

They moved on like this, following the pins, repeating the days of the break-ins. August 24th, September 3rd, September 19th, October 10th, October 27th. There was no regularity; ten days, sixteen days, almost a whole month, seventeen days. It was the same with the stolen goods. Money (100000 dollars), Jewelry (90000 dollars), nothing, the copy of van Gogh-painting (Starry Night) and once again money (50000 dollars).

"They seemed to be hard-pressed for money", Clary mentioned. She turned two pages back in her own notebook. Alec nodded absent-mindedly; his gaze drifted over to the Florida-map.

"In Florida they mostly took small objects, one earring, a set of expensive scented candles and bathing supplies ... stuff like that, stuff that ..." Clary fumbled for words.

"Stuff that nobody really pays attention to", Alec finished the sentence for her. Clary nodded. "Yeah, nobody that earns a certain amount of money."

Alec took the cup with the caramel-stuff from the table only to realize that it was already empty. He frowned at the cup, almost pouting.

"Okay, but what now?" Clary sighed heavily and leaned back in her chair. Alec cocked his head while still holding onto the empty cup.

"We wait for the next break-in."

He got a confused look from his partner, but she didn't question him. Alec almost smiled, but caught himself before the corners of his mouth could move upwards. Don't get attached, he chided himself and turned his gaze back to the both maps. Out loud he said:

"There must have something happened in Florida."

Something that had forced them to move, to ... rush?

* * *

Magnus was addicted to shadows, to the lingering darkness that filled the space between flickering flames. Light illuminated, it led the eye to certain places, but there was nothing more fascinating to the thief then all the things that stayed hidden in the shadows of the world. Things that only could be found when one was looking for them. Among those shadows the ones of the human soul were the most fascinating, the irresistible ones. Everybody had a secret and everybody was so very sure that nobody could see them, could ever find them.

It was one of the reasons Magnus worked at Starbucks. Not because working there was so much fun - which would be a lie anyway - but for the numerous different people he met every day. He could listen to there hurried footsteps, their mumbling voices and racing heartbeats all day long. So many eyes passed him; green, brown, grey, light-blue ... blue. Absent-mindedly Magnus let the fingers of his right hand wander across the rough stone of the wall next to him. The scampering shadows were of the darkest black and only got briefly touched by the lights of the illuminated city of New York. Magnus could almost feel them stroking his fingertips. A fleeting thought of ink-black hair that seemed to hold the softness of expensive velvet crossed his mind. But it was gone as fast as it had come.

"How long do you plan to stand there spacing off?"

Ragnor's voice let Magnus snap out of his thoughts. He tore his gaze away from the garden that lay beneath him in smooth darkness, to look up at his freezing friend. Magnus grinned at him.

"Missing me already?", he teased. Ragnor only rolled his eyes and disappeared onto the roof again. Magnus stood on one of the balconies of the Velaros-villa. The inhabitants were some minor royals from Spain, but at the moment they were on vacation ... in France; Montalbert or something like that. Magnus climbed onto the balustrade, took one step into the open while a guard passed right beneath him. But instead of falling and crashing said guard, he vanished into thin air only leaving a trail of smoke. He reappeared right next to Ragnor who was kneeling on the flat roof of the villa, working on the lock of the roof hatch. A quiet snap sounded, followed by the soft clinging of metal against stone. Triumphantly Ragnor raised his hands above his head. Then he stood up eyeing Magnus closely.

"So, care to share your magnificent plan with your humble underlings?" He raised an eyebrow at his mischievously grinning friend.

"Why do you think I have a plan? Can't I just enjoy a nice, stressless break-in with my best and dearest friend?"

At that Ragnor sent him blank stare. "Because, my dear friend, you are always up to something ... and I've seen the picture of the new detective that had been assigned to our case."

Magnus rolled his eyes and threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "What do you all have with his looks?"

Ragnor chuckled lightly and raised his hands defensively. "Oh, don't worry, I'd never get between you and the combination of black and blue - I've learned my lesson the day you bought that scarf."

Everybody else would have winced at the murderous glare Magnus sent him, but Ragnor only grinned as if he wanted to say 'Oh, yes, I know your darkest secrets and if you ever think about trading my life for a cup of coffee, I'll broadcast them'. Magnus sighed and gave up on the glare. He let his gaze wander over the edge of the rooftop.

The backyard of the villa could have put Versailles to shame. It wasn't nearly as big as the one in France, but it held an elegance that had a beauty of his own. It wasn't obvious to the eye of every observer whose glance stroked the tips of the bushes, the remains of the withered flowers. It had to be looked for, it had to be discovered, dragged out of the shadows of the night with care.

"I just want to get to know him a bit better", Magnus whispered with a smile playing around the edges of his mouth. He could Ragnor snort behind him.

"Whatever ... as long as you don't keep track of his coffee-drinking-habits." The soles of his boots scraped across the stone ground of the rooftop as he crouched down next to the roof hatch again. In the meantime Magnus' smile stretched into a predatory grin that only the stars could see.

**Will Alec ever get the name of that mysterious man at Starbucks? **

**Well, let me know what you think :) Leave a review (justify the cramps in my hands and the bleeding fingertips), tell me what you liked and what you didn't.  
**

**Maybe I'll update before I go on vacation on Saturday to tell you about their first meeting as thief and detective. ;)  
I would have added it to this chapter, but it would have gotten to long - plus my fingers stared killing me. **

**Bye FreakyPumpkin :D  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi :) I'm back from skiing and finally I got the next chapter done and I really really hope it turned out okay. Thank you, thank you, thank you very very very much for your reviews! *hugs through the internet* You are awesome readers! :D**

wingyan1320:** I google the coffee-stuff, so feel free to correct me ;) and yeah, you're right with the guess *G* there is no Magnus without the Chairman! :D**

**Something else: I thought about putting up a warning because I realized that there will be some darker themes in this story (nothing seriously tragic though because I am a Happy End-addict), but there are things like suicide mentioned because of what had happened in Florida (Magnus didn't take that very well). So, maybe you could let me know how I should handle this? (I also changed the genre from Romance/Humor to Romance/Drama, to be sure - but I'll still keep the humor.) Oh, and WARNING for swearing.  
**

**Disclaimer: Sadly, still not mine. Only Iffi belongs to me ;) and any mistake you find. :) **

**Whenever there is a gray line I change from one POV to the other (between Magnus and Alec). :) Have fun! **

**Chapter 4**

Alec sent Clary home around six o'clock. She was barely able to keep her eyes open in spite of the unhealthy amount of coffee they had consumed together (Alec started suspecting the sugar to lighten the effect of the caffein) and because they simply didn't find anything new. They had the connection to the break-ins in Florida, they knew that there was the assumption of three thieves being involved, but Alec didn't know where that had come from. Maybe they had overlooked a file in the archives or it was filed under something different. Something was missing. There was only a little handwritten note between the pages of the report of the Wall Street-break in that said 'THREE thieves!'. Maybe Starkweather had had some of the files at his place, but as that had gone up in flames, well ... (Gas explosion, they said.)

At the moment Alec was sitting in the middle of his living room floor. The small couch had been pushed to one wall, the little table with the TV on top to the other. The floor was covered by reports, photographs, newspaper articles and notepads - green, yellow, pink, orange and white, because Alec had run out of the colored ones. It was everything he and Clary had found about the break-ins in Florida and New York. The photographs showed empty safes, the paw prints, windows, that lacked any evidence of force being used to open them, doors with the same lack of evidence, sketches of possible culprits, but their names had all been crossed out during the former investigation. Alec had gotten home around eight and his head had started spinning around eleven o'clock.

He still refused to give up for the day. (For him the day ended when he got into bed not when the clock struck midnight.)

There was simply something about these cases that he couldn't put a finger on. Of course they were connected, but somehow there was ... more. Something that lingered between the lines of the reports or just beneath the surface of every photograph. Fear maybe, some sort of anxiety. Awareness. A call for attention?

It was like looking through a clouded window, where you first had to go to the other side of the window to clear the view again. But Alec was stuck on the wrong side of the window. He looked up from the newspaper article he was holding.

"I hate clouded windows", he mumbled and placed the article next to a pink note on which he had drawn an angry looking smiley. The article was about how the police of New York seemed helpless against those thieves. The journalist made them out to be some kind of Robin Hood's or Musketeers (defending the poor, taking from the rich) and Alec didn't like the idea of being the mean sherif nobody likes or some guy whose name sounded like stinking cheese.

His fingertips ghosted across the photograph of a bathtub. It was a detail of a crime scene in Florida. A little plastic sign with the number 3 printed on, sat on the rim, marking an empty spot. The wall that was directly connected to the tub was covered with bronze-colored tiles. Two roses stood in a vase at the edge of the bathtub. Next to them there were three other bottles placed. Each one of them filled with a different fragranced oil. Vanilla, rose, lavender - according to the labels. Only the one with the orange fragrance had been taken. The light of the lamp in the bathroom was reflected by the tiles. With that a warm, golden light filled the room. Warmth. Alec could almost hear the soft laughter when he tried to imagine how it must have been to the thief when he had entered the room.

Had his fingertips danced across the corks of the bottles as he tried to figure out which one to take? The one with the orange fragrance hadn't been the most expensive one. And why had he left the others? Too much weight? Or simply no interest?

Alec shifted his gaze to the photograph of the open safe at the Daryaran-villa. It was completely empty. Nothing was left behind. All the money had been taken. Alec traced the rim of the safe with his index finger. No laughter. No warmth. Only cold emptiness.

Jace always chided him that he got too caught up in the cases he was assigned to. Maybe it was true, but Alec couldn't help it. There always was this rush of excitement. How had it happened? Why? Who? But with the excitement there also was that feeling of deep and utter frustration whenever he stood in front of a window whose glass had been smashed with a stone. It was so ... primitive.

But this case was different. Alec felt like being under a spell. His fingertips left the photograph of the empty safe. They found another one right next to Alec's left thigh. A vanity table with perfume bottles on top of it. They were arranged in a happy smiley face. The second break-in in Florida. Another smiley face had been found at the crime scene of the fifth break-in as well, a sad face this time; arranged with apples on the dinner table. There was something about the break-ins where nothing had been taken that made him smile.

Alec couldn't help to feel intrigued. It was almost midnight when somebody somewhere decided to call him.

* * *

Magnus leaned against the balustrade at the end of the broad staircase in the entrance hall of the villa. The lights were out because the electricity of the whole building was down. Magnus smirked and tiny blue sparks danced between his fingertips as he watched the two officers that were walking around downstairs, flashlights in their hands. The circles of dirty, yellow light scampered across the walls of the entrance hall, the steps of the stairs, the ceiling, but never finding the slim figure, clad in black fabric at the top of the saris; never finding the glowing, feline eyes that mirrored amusement. The two officers were waiting for the detective to arrive, the one who had been assigned to these cases were the paw prints of a tiny cat were found in almost every room of the villa.

Out of the corner of his eye Magnus watched Chairman Meow who sat on top of the balustrade right next to him and was cleaning himself. 'Diva', Magnus mouthed at the cat, but the Chairman didn't care.

"How long are we supposed to wait for him? And what takes him that long anyway?", one of the officers calls out to his colleague.

"Don't know", the other one replied, "but I've heard that he doesn't own a car, so he has to take public transportation, which - at this time", he glanced at his watch, "will surely take its time."

Magnus raised one eyebrow curiously.

The first officer sighed heavily. "He sure is a weird one, don't you think?"

'You say it like it's a bad thing', Magnus thought, his eyes searching for the flashlight of the second officer. He found it. The officer gave a short shrug in return.

"I don't really know him that well ... and to be honest there are quite some odd personalities at the theft-department. I mean that Morgenstern-guy - gives me the creeps." He shuddered and his colleague nodded in agreement. But he didn't seem willing to let the topic drop.

"I've heard that Lightwood threatened to kill his first partner for putting milk into his coffee", he whispered fearful. Magnus briefly thought about slipping a bit of milk into the ordered coffee of Alexander Lightwood when he visited coffee shop again. Just to see what would happen. He had had threats of death shoved at his face so many times already that he didn't really care. Nobody had succeeded in killing him or even threatening his live seriously ... yet. Magnus felt a well-known numbness wash over him. Maybe Alec would succeed?

Magnus shoved those thoughts aside. Catarina had promised to burn everything he owned if he'd ever got even close to the suicidal thoughts that had filled his mind back when they had first moved to New York. Magnus could still see her tear-drenched face hovering above him as she pinned him on the floor beneath her. They, she and Ragnor, had found him at the top floor of the skyscraper he had climbed. Didn't know the name and never wanted to find out. He could still hear her voice, screaming hoarsely at him. He still knew every single word. He never wanted to see her break like that again.

"Officers?"

Another voice flew through the entrance hall. Chairman Meow perked up and Magnus felt his dark memories being blown away. For now. He curiously watched the detective step into the hall and greeting the officers. They told him everything that had happened. Break-in around half past eleven. A guard had noticed a dark figure between the bushes in the backyard, but he lost whoever had weaseled around outside. After that he had checked the house and found the roof hatch open plus the paw prints. Nothing had been stolen. The guard had been sent home because he was starting to annoy the hell out of the two officers.

Alec nodded slowly. His black hair fused almost completely with the darkness around him. "Okay, I want to talk to the guard tomorrow or ...", he glanced at his watch, "more likely, later today."

Magnus listened to their conversation with decreasing interest. Maybe he was wrong about that detective-guy. He posed the same questions as any other detective. He said the same things. He acted the same way. Magnus sighed silently and let his gaze wander back to Chairman Meow who scratched himself behind his right ear. The cat did that quite frequently lately. Magnus knit his brows. 'Flea bite?', he wondered. But just as his thoughts got to the question where he had written down the phone number of the vet, something happened. Nothing big, no explosion, but something just as unexpected.

Alexander Lightwood dismissed the two officers. He kept on flashlight and waited till the footsteps of the two other men couldn't be heard anymore. When it was completely silent, he started cautiously walking around the entrance hall on his own.

The Chairman stopped scratching his ear. His eyes trained on the young man downstairs. This way two pairs of feline eyes followed his every movement.

* * *

Alec didn't trust cars.

It wasn't like he had a traumatizing experience in his early childhood where he lost his parents in a tragic car crash. (Though there were days, when Alec really wouldn't mind if he'd lost his father back then.) No, he simply didn't like cars. There were two many cases of detectives getting into their car, starting the engine and ... blowing up. Brakes could be sabotaged, aggressive homeless people could be waiting in the back seat, same as professional assassins. On public transportation there might be a similar risk, but there were simply only so much places that one could reach by foot. That and Alec liked observing other people without them noticing that they were watched. He had gotten better at the un-noticed observing after being accused to stalk a young girl. Mr. Garroway had been ... unhappy about that accusation. He had almost forced Alec to get his license which ended with Alec threatening to jump of the NYPD-building. (Jace had to restrain laughter when he got called to get Alec off the rooftop. Not to mention that Robert did consider disowning his son afterwards, but there are some things Maryse can't take a joke about.)

Alec got weird looks everywhere and at some point he had just stopped trying to prevent them by acting 'normal', low-key, forgettable. It didn't work for him. He couldn't shake of his socially awkwardness, that drew (negative) attention like moths to the flame. At some point - at least when he was at work - he simply stopped caring. But his private life was still a mess. Maybe he should ask the Starbucks-guy out and his private life would become 'normal'.

Alec took a deep breath and shook every thought of green-golden eyes off his mind. The two officers were gone and he was finally alone. Nobody was there to judge him. He swung the flashlight from his left to his right and decided to start with the right side of the wall.

As he walked over to the right wall, the glow of the flashlight followed his footsteps, always at the same place as his feet. The floor of the hall was covered by dark-red carpet which made his own footsteps sound muffled. About two feet away from the wall, the carpet stopped and exposed fine, high-quality parquet floor. The paw prints criss-crossed across the carpet, but never left the red fabric. Well, not at that place. Alec followed the paw prints as he turned around and made his way over to the other side of the hall. There he found one point where the paw prints left the carpet and disappeared into the next room. About one foot to the left of that trail the paw prints returned to the entrance hall, went back to the right and ... got up the stairs. Alec cocked his head a little. He hadn't even realized that the hall had a staircase.

"Well, now I know", he muttered under his breath and slowly approached the first step of the stirs. The cone of light travelled slightly insatiable across the steps till it reached the top. Alec's lips turned into a thin line as he tried to see if something or someone was up there. But there was nothing; just hovering shadows that fled whenever the light of the flashlight got too near.

Alec gave a shrug and took the first step.

* * *

With an emotion that got pretty damn close to pure shock, Magnus watched the detective slowly climbing the stairs. Did Alec see him? Did he sense that he was being watched from upstairs?

Well, of course the Chairman had left a trail that could be followed upstairs, but normally the shadows that were lurking around Magnus would keep everybody downstairs. It wasn't a directly posed threat, but more likely a subconscious influence. Everybody who even as much as thought about climbing the stairs would feel an enormous aversion to actually do so at the same time. It had worked with those two officers before, bloody hell, it had worked with everybody else before. Even the Starkweather-guy hadn't acted against that influence until the forth break-in and he had had to do a good job of research before to get to that point.

But Alexander Lightwood ... all he had were the files in the archives, minus the ones that went up in flames; just dull words on paper and meaningless photographs of paw prints.

At the top of the stairs a sort of indoor balcony and led to a small door that was locked. Magnus stood about halfway on the way towards the door. He stepped back from the balustrade and scooped up Chairman Meow with one hand as he did so. Alec got closer to him set by step, but judging by the searching look in his eyes, he hadn't spotted Magnus yet. But suddenly he stopped, almost in mid-step. He knit his brows and did what seemed like ... sniffing?

* * *

Every cat had a specific scent. Church - for example - carried the slight scent of clear air after heavy rain, while Iffi - Isabelles new best friend - always smelled a little bit like powder that some girls seemed to bathe in before taking a step outside. But even though different cats carried a different kind of scent, they still smelled distinctly like 'cat', too. Not in a bad, wet-dog way, but rather in a clean-fur way. And exactly that scent was what caught Alec's attention as he reached the top step of the stairs. The cat had to still be here. Somewhere nearby and maybe so was the thief.

Without looking Alec pulled his gun out of the holster beneath his hoodie jacket. He took the gun in his right hand and placed the other one with the flashlight on top of it. Then he took a deep breath and squinted into the darkness that lay in front of him.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are", he said in a soft sing song voice. Something moved to his right and as he moved the cone of light of the flashlight towards the point where he suspected the movement, a tiny ball of white fur dashed through the circle of dirty, yellow light. Utterly confused Alec looked down at his feet where the tiniest cat he'd ever seen, turned into the loudest purring engine he'd ever heard. Slowly Alec raised one foot to step over the cat without stepping on its tail or an even tinier paw. But the little fellow caught up with every one of his steps.

* * *

Magnus felt the smile on his lips turn into a grin. He watched the detective trying to get get rid of the cat that currently was glued to his feet. If there was something Chairman Meow had mastered, it was how to thoroughly distract people. Magnus couldn't even count the amount of times, the little cat had saved him out of precarious situations, where he would have gotten caught otherwise.

So, while Alec was occupied with the scurrying Chairman Meow, Magnus moved along the wall towards the stairs. He could have gotten downstairs back and outside the villa or through the kitchen, to the second floor, back to the roof hatch and finally the rooftop. One short whistle and the cat would dash after him, leaving the detective alone on the sort-of-balcony. If there had been other circumstances, Magnus'd done it that way, but something held him back. Ny now he stood right next to Alec, flat against the wall, and stopped, smiling at the look of sweet desperation on the face of the young officer. He was annoyed by the persistent cat, that could be clearly seen, but there was also the shadow of a smile on his lips. A soft line which was a contrast to the sharp lines of annoyance which were carved into his forehead.

Magnus felt the urge to smooth them away, to let his fingertips wander across the pale skin, whispering into his ear that he should just play wit the cat for a little while. The Chairman would get tired and ... yeah, what could they do then. Magnus raised his right hand before he could stop himself.

The next moment there was a gun pointed at him.

* * *

Alec blinked. He had recognized a movement on his right, but there was simply the wall, nothing else. The little cat was still rubbing it's head at Alec's shins, but for the moment he ignored it. (Though he tried not to move his feet too fast to not hit the cat by accident.) He felt the vibration of the purrs through the fabric of his pants against the skin of his lower legs. Nothing else was there. Only the cat, but still ... Alec was sure there had been a movement. The flashlight illuminated the wall in front of him. Simple white paint covered it. Empty white, nothing else.

Alec let out a breath he didn't knew he was holding. He stared intently at the shadows next to the cone of light. The shadows were behaving weird in this villa; almost as if they were alive. He cocked his head a little to the right and squinted at the shadows right next to the light of his flashlight. They were ... moving?

He took one step closer to the wall, one more step and his forehead would meet concrete material. Shadows turned into black smoke, that lazily trailed across the wall, thinning out whenever it got close to the light. Alec moved the flashlight a little higher, same as his gun. This way he held both at eye level and then he saw them.

Bright shining yellow cat-eyes, with slitted pupils, that was barely a thin line because of the flashlight, which was pointed directly at them. The eyes didn't squint. They kept staring right into the light and as Alec stupidly stared back, dark, thick shadows started invading the cone of light. No longer did the smoke get thinner. The light got weaker with every passing heartbeat and there was nothing Alec could do about it. He simply stared at those eyes in front of him; slightly above his own level, but not much.

The shadows thickened. There was a face to those eyes; tan skin, lips set in a straight line. It almost seemed like the darkness had covered the appearance of that man before and now the illusion of empty space flaked away. He wore black clothes and a shoulder bag.

The flashlight flickered and before it died completely, Alec could see the pupils of those feline eyes expanding into ovals. Then the the world around him turned black.

* * *

Magnus couldn't believe what just had happened. Never ever had anybody gotten the better of him in a situation like this. He had home field advantage in the darkness, at night, in empty corridors. Those were his realm. Never had anybody dragged him out of the shadows. Frozen in shock he stared at the young man in front of him, who was squinting again. His sight hadn't yet adjusted to the darkness.

'Leave', Magnus' mind screamed at him, 'leave now!'. He should, he knew it, but he couldn't move. His feet felt like they were glued to the floor beneath. 'Move!' Finally he regained control over his body's movements again. He moved. Soundless. Three steps the left. Towards the stairs, he reached the first step, he heard the soft sound of Chairman Meow moving after him. Other, heavier footsteps followed.

Then he heard his voice, surprisingly close and he felt the muzzle of the gun hard against his back.

* * *

Now that Alec knew what to look for, it was easy to make out the lean frame of the other man in the dark entrance hall. It wasn't entirely dark anyway because of the soft moonlight coming through the little windows along the wall. But Alec had problems to move forward nonetheless. It was a bit like moving through thick fog. He fought to keep his focus on the other man and dashed after him, reaching him just as he was about to take the first step of the stairs. Alec discarded the flashlight on the floor. He got hold of the strap of the shoulder bag and pressed the gun against the back of the other man.

"Stop right there", he whispered. The other man almost froze. A reaction in response to the direct contact with the gun. Alec changed his position and took hold of the other man's upper arm.

"Who are you?"

* * *

Magnus grinned. Alec couldn't see his face, so it didn't make a difference. Magnus had to fight down a chuckle that rose in his throat. The man behind him failed at ordering a simple coffee at Starbucks, but he was able to drag Magnus out of his hide-out. Interesting. Alec had surprised him, true, but that didn't mean, Magnus would go easy on him. How far could he go? Would Alec recognize him?

"A stranger with a love for moonlight-walks?", he replied. He felt the grip around his arm tighten for a second. Magnus's grin grew wider. Well? Can you connect the dots, Lightwood?, he wondered.

"You were caught at a crime scene. If you don't give me a plausible reason for you to be hear, to hide in the shadows, I'll assume that you are the one, that broke in here and take you into investigative custody." Alec's voice didn't waver, not one bit. But his words sounded like recited from a book.

'He's hiding behind a professional facade when he is at work.' Magnus felt a pang in his chest. 'Just like me.' He raised his gaze, let it wander along the stairs, to the entrance door, across the white walls.

How much do you want to risk?, a little voice in his head asked. It dared him. Are you scared? Will you run?

His plan had been to stay hidden and observe Alexander Lightwood, to get to know his way of working, how fast he's discover the picked lock at the roof hatch. There hadn't been a part in his plan of what to do when he's be found out because that never happened. It was the only reason Ragnor had let him stay behind alone. Normally they always came together and left together. Catarina was the one that worked alone, though she mostly stayed behind at their hide-out to do the planning and the research ... and to answer the phone calls.

There was a bitter taste on Magnus' tongue. He definitely wouldn't leave those two alone. Maybe that detective had found him, had dragged him out of the shadows, which Magnus wore like a second skin at night, but the young man still had a long way in front of him if he wanted to actually capture Magnus.

His gaze settled on the wall across from the staircase. I will run, but I'm not running away. He recalled the image of the young man with the blue eyes who stood awkwardly in front of the Starbucks-counter with a faint trace of a blush on his cheeks. It is the same person, Magnus told himself. One and the same.

"Custody, hm?", he whispered, but his voice got stronger with the following words, "Is that what they call it these days?"

"What?" Alec's voice broke ever so lightly. His facade started cracking, but his grip was still firm on Magnus' upper arm as he tried to move tentatively. "No! I'm seriously going to arrest you."

Retreating behind the mask, Magnus thought. But masks can be ripped off, Alec. He sighed heavily and made sure to sound annoyed with his next comment.

"Seriously, if want a date, just ask ... Alec."

Addressing him with the nickname was a risk, but then again the whole break-in this night already was one big risk. So why not taking another one. It worked.

"Wha-? How do you-? No, don't tell m-" His mask fell to the ground. There was the socially awkward man, who stumbled over his words.

His grip loosened and right at that moment, Magnus spun around, grabbed the collar of his faded t-shirt and kissed him.

Hard. Cold. Unrequited.

Green-yellow cat eyes stared into deep blue ones, filled with pure surprise and shock.

The next second it was over. Magnus stepped back, scooped up Chairman Meow, who had been sitting next to him the whole time, and vanished into thin air, taking every trace which he might have left at the villa with him. Only the images of himself in Alec's memory couldn't be removed.

* * *

Alec stumbled backwards. One of his feet hit the flashlight. It started rolling and fell down from the indoor-balcony. A thud sounded through the empty hall as it landed on the carpet downstairs. Alec tried to calm down, but his breathing refused to slow down, same as his heartbeat. Slowly he sank down on the first step of the stairs. He placed his gun next to him with shaking hand and buried his face in his hands.

"Fuck", he mumbled. Taking a deep breath he looked up at the ceiling. "FUCK!"

The smell of sandalwood lingered in his nose. The taste of grapefruit lingered on his lips. Alec groaned and let himself fall back onto the floor.

There were god knew how many gay or bisexual single men out there and of course he had to crush on the one, who was a wanted criminal. Alec decided never to trust a Starbucks-employee again.

* * *

The hide-out Catarina had picked for them had a terrace with a broad balustrade. Magnus sat on top of it and let his legs dangle and the cold night air play with his loose hair. He didn't have to work the next day, so he'd let it down till the day after tomorrow. He could hear Ragnor stepping out on the terrace and walking over to Magnus. Chairman Meow was fast asleep in his lap and next to him stood a cup of coffee. Cold coffee by now.

"So?", Ragnor asked, "How'd it go? What did you find out?"

Magnus didn't look at him. He kept his gaze fixed on the horizon. The would start rising in less than an hour.

"He tastes like fresh air", Magnus muttered absent-mindedly. Ragnor eyed him confused, but Magnus went on before he could say anything. "... and I want to meet him again."

Ragnor leaned a bit forward to get a better look at Magnus' face.

"Are you high?"

At that Magnus' head snapped around to look at his friend. The look in his eyes was dead-serious as he answered:

"Maybe, Ragnor, maybe."

**Sorry for anything OOC, I seriously am unsure about this chapter. I wanted to draw a line between the Starbucks-meetings and this one. Let me know what you liked and what not. :)**

** Tomorrow University will start again and I'll try to update on a weekly basis, most-likely on the weekends. :)  
Bye FreakyPumpkin**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, new chapter :D and I decided to reply to every review right here because they make me so very happy and so does every follower and every time the story gets favorited and OMG, I love you all! *hug***

BooksBeforeLife:** Thank you so very much, I'm glad you liked it. ^/^**

deviant97:** Yeah, I know, but the future holds better times for him. Promised ;)**

wingyan1320:** You can't imagine how happy it makes me that you like my writing (well, you probably wouldn't read it, if it were otherwise ... but still 8^O^8)**

Wilson Bane:** Glad, you liked the kiss. :D I was a bit unsure about it.**

Guest:** Oh my god, THANK YOU! Q.Q I'm literally shedding tears of joy right now. I hope you like this chapter :) **

**So, this chapter also has a little surprise (surprised me as well) and it involves a wig, just so you know ;D  
**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine. Sadly.**

**Chapter 5**

Alec didn't get any sleep for the rest of the night. As a matter of fact he stayed at the villa for most of it. After being frustrated, silently cursing his bad luck and angrily staring at the ceiling, he decided that he still had a job to do. He found the paw prints in every room that wasn't locked. He found the picked lock on the rooftop and then tried to get down from the roof outside. He managed to one of the balconies that faced the backyard and finally ended up jumping from the balustrade and landing in one of the rose bushes. As he was laying there, Alec pursed his lips and looked up at the sky.

"I guess he had a rope." He still refused the fact that the thief had disappeared into thin air. There had to be a trick behind it ... right? It was dark in the entrance hall.

Another guard noticed him and threatened to call the police if he wouldn't leave the estate instantly. Alec decided to take that as a sign to get back to his office. It was nearer than his apartment and he could use the showers on the second floor. He also kept spare clothes in his office.

After the shower he walked back to his office, ignoring the looks he received for walking through the corridors wearing sweatpants, colorful socks, a T-Shirt ('Be happy, it confuses people!') and a towel on his head. Nothing new there.

"Hey, Alec", a well-known voice sounded from behind him and as Alec turned around he saw Jace walking towards him. How was it possible to look that energetic so early in the morning? Alec stopped and turned around.

"Morning, Jace, what's up?"

"The sky." Jace grinned and Alec rolled his eyes, but gave a crooked smile in return nonetheless. "So, how is it going with you and Clary?"

Alec looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Good ... I guess." For his standards at least. After all, she hadn't tried to strangle him yet and as he thought back to their talk yesterday, he'd say, it was going pretty good. When a rather pissed red-head appeared in the corridor and started storming towards the two men, Alec got the feeling, that it might change in the near future.

"LIGHTWOOD!" The sweet sound of ones furiously screamed last name in the morning. "WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME?"

Now, Alec was confused.

"I'm gay, Clary, why should I call you?"

The read-head stopped short in front of Alec and Jace, greeting Jace with a short nod of the head, then her green eyes locked with Alec's blue ones. Anger, confusion, comprehension and frustration passed her face in under five seconds. Fascinating.

"Wha-? No! That's not what I'm talking ab- the case, Lightwood, the case! There was a break-in last night ... at the Daryaran-villa."

She looked at him like the answer to why she looked as if she was about to rip his head off, was obvious. It wasn't to Alec, not really.

"Yeah, I was there", he said slowly, taking half a step backwards, just in case. She threw her hands in the air.

"Yes!", he exclaimed, "you were there and you are supposed to call me, we are working on this case together."

"Oh, right ... sorry, I will call you next time."

Clary mirrored his posture and crossed her arms as well, her head slightly tilted to one side. "Oh, yeah? Do you even have my number yet?"

Awkward. He didn't. "Of course, I have, it's ... written down ... somewhere." Maybe. He remembered throwing away a notepad yesterday, with a number on it - a number, which he didn't recognize. It could have been hers. "What about you? Do you have my number?"

With an exasperated sigh, which was in Alec's opinion completely immoderate, she blew a strand of red hair out of her forehand. Not that it didn't fall back right away, but obviously it was the act that counted, not the outcome.

"Of course, it was one of the first things I've done." Her lips curled up into a malicious smile. "I saved it under 'antisocial', so that you are always top of the list."

Alec decided to find a mean nickname for her as well, regardless of the fact, that he wasn't very good at it. Finding nicknames, nice or mean, wasn't one of his strong points. But for the sake of the woman in front of him, he was willing to try.

"That's ... good to know."

Smooth, Lightwood, smooth.

"I see you two are really hitting it off", Jace chuckled, while his eyes were traveling from Alec to Clary and back again. "Well then, be nice and become good friends." He smiled broadly and clapped both of them on the shoulder before turning to walk away. "Oh, and Alec, don't forget Saturday."

Alec growled something, that could have been 'sure', but he didn't turn around to look at Jace. He could practically feel his friends crooked smile and the amused twinkling in his eyes. Judging by Clary's expression, she did see both. Nice start of the day.

"I would have kicked you in the shin, if Jace hadn't been around, you know", Clary explained as they walked to Alec's office together. Clary had a desk somewhere downstairs, but she claimed that Alec's office were the better place for talking about the case and the break-in last night. Alec agreed.

"So?", he inquired. Was he supposed to be thankful now? Falling down on his knees to thank her for her generosity? Not gonna happen. Clary looked up at him and Alec got the feeling that she kind of knew what he was thinking at the moment. He raised one eyebrow. The next moment he felt a sharp pain radiating through his right leg. He winced and reflexively bowed down to touch his kicked shin. Clary walked up ahead of him, entering the office of without one glance back at him.

"Work with a partner, they said", Alec muttered as he got back up again, "it's gonna be fun, they said."

When he had been laying between crushed rosebushes, Alec had decided not to tell Clary everything that had happened at the villa. After she threatened to kick him again and call his sister, he told her what had happened. He still kept his mouth shut about the kiss. There were some things partners didn't have to share and some that even Isabelle would't force out of him.

"You've seen the thief?", Clary looked at him incredulous. "He was still there?"

Alec knit his eyebrows. "No, I've only seen his shadow, that he had lost there and was running berserk at the place." He hoped the sarcasm was clear, he didn't have his sarcasm-sign with him. Based on the pissed off-look Clary gave him, she got it.

"Whatever, what did he look like?"

Quite handsome.

"Thievish?"

She glared at him and raised one foot from the floor. Alec quickly raised his feet as well and changed his position on the chair, he was sitting in, to cross-legged. "Okay, okay." He raised his hands defensively. "Uhm, black hair, tan skin, tall, taller than me, lean, but not skinny, green-no, yellow ... ish eyes. Maybe Asian, he had a light accent, but I don't know what kind of."

Alec decided to also keep the slitted pupils to himself. For now. Clary wouldn't believe him anyway. She'd only come up with the idea that it might have been contacts, but for some reason Alec doubted that.

At word, the guy wore make up, numerous rings on both hands, had his hair styled and he if Alec remembered right there also was colorful nailpolish involved. It was a mask he was wearing during the day and when he had met him last night, he was surprisingly plain compared to his appearance at the coffee shop. Black clothes, no make up, his hair had been down - no, that had to be his natural appearance, the way he was born. But who was born with feline eyes?

Alec knew, that he had to talk to the thief, alone. But how would he get Clary out of the way, without running the risk of getting kicked again. (For such a small girl, she had quite a powerful kick.)

"Detective Lightwood?" A shy voice from the entrance of the office interrupted his train of thoughts, that started involving locking Clary up in the archives. He turned his head towards the door. There stood a young woman with shoulder-lenght, brown hair, smiling at him.

"What is it, Catarina?" She was one of the secretaries that could be found scurrying around the whole building, wherever they were needed. Catarina stepped into the office and squared her shoulders a little bit.

"There is a guard of the Daryaran-villa downstairs. He says that he was called in for a questioning about the break-in last night?"

Alec's face lighted up. "Ah, right, Catarina, thank you very much, please lead the man into the interrogation room ... uhm, number three." The woman gave a short nod in response and disappeared again.

Alec clapped his hands and turned back to Clary. "So, dear partner, are you up for some questioning while I get some coffee?"

* * *

Magnus was late for work. He hated it, but it couldn't be helped. Only three hours of sleep were simply not enough, even for him. He sighed heavily, when he remembered Ragnor's mocking grin and Catarinas scolding words. His colleagues would be mad at him for having to do his work too and his boss would look at him like he was an unworthy fly beneath his foot. Not, that Magnus cared much for their opinions, but it still got on his nerves.

But just as he entered the coffee shop, he spotted the figure of a certain detective at the counter. He was talking to someone, one of Magnus' colleagues, who pointed at Magnus, when he noticed him. The detective turned around and ... smirked?

"Long time no see."

It left Magnus dumbfounded, but only for a few seconds. He caught himself again and faced the smirk with his sweetest smile.

"How may I help you, sir?"

* * *

Alec had changed back into his pants - he had a strict code of not going outside wearing sweatpants, he hated that 'fashion' - but he had left the other shirt on, as well as the socks. He liked them. He liked the fact that they couldn't be seen beneath his pants too.

"So, what do you want to talk about?"

Alec's thoughts snapped back from his socks to the person, that was currently sitting across from him. THey had taken a table in the back, but it actually didn't really matter because the coffee shop was actually still almost empty. Alec looked the thief over. with his make up, the styled hair and the colorful clothes (the ones he had worn when arriving at the shop, now he was simply dressed in his green uniform), his mask was perfectly in place. The green color of his eyes with the little golden specks in it was still radiant, but Alec had to admit that compared to the rest of his appearance they didn't stand out as much as they could have if combined with a different attire. It seemed like he tried to hide them or more likely to hide the fact that they were indeed colored contacts. It wasn't easy to notice, but if you knew what you were looking for ... well, it wasn't impossible to notice. And the most people would simply think that he wanted to hide the natural color of his eyes, not the fact that he had slitted pupils like a cat.

"You aren't wearing a name tag", Alec answered with a hopefully neutral and calm voice. At least to his own ears it sounded like that. He had asked the other employees and got to know that the other man kept losing his name tags (or at least that was what he claimed what happened). A new one was already ordered and should arrive the next day. The thief had even gotten into a fight with his superior once because of it.

"Wanna know my name, detective?"

Alec felt a soft shiver and fought it down successfully. Of course, he had already gotten the name from his colleagues, but he somehow doubted that it was his real one. Based on the look on the thief's face, the smirk, that started turning into a malicious grin, he also knew, that Alec already knew. But he played along, nonetheless.

"I go by the name Horace", he said, "Horace Whipplepool."

Alec swallowed heavily before he could stop himself. The name had made him almost laugh, when he had heard it from the superior, and it was still a weird one, a funny one. But when the thief said, with that grin on his lips and the gleam in his eyes, it sounded like a threat.

* * *

Magnus liked the name. And he had it also proven that it was easier to survive with a funny name. Not, if you were a teenager, trying to survive highschool, of course, but as a thief ... it worked quite fine. Simply because nobody really took you serious. It was something that happened subconsciously. Magnus didn't exactly know how it worked, but as long as it worked in his favor, he was okay with it.

"Seriously?" Magnus grinned at the incredulous look the detective gave him. He leaned a bit forward across the table. If on instinct or because he hoped to get some whispered information Alec mirrored the movement.

"Already doubting me, darling?", Magnus whispered. He enjoyed the sight of the light blush adorning the cheeks of the detective. _So tough at work, but so very easily flustered when with a simple little nickname. _"I'm hurt."

Annoyance found its way into the deep blue eyes across the table. _Come on, little one, play a little, put up a fight. _

"I know who you are", Alec whispered back and Magnus found himself leaning forward a bit more. Alec's jaw was set and the look on his face was determined. _That's how I like it._ _Show me, that you are more than just a pretty face._

"And I know where you live."

The detective narrowed his eyes and shot Magnus a glare. "You're bluffing."

"Am I?"

* * *

Alec took a deep breath to calm himself down again. No, he wouldn't let the thief get the best of him. If he wanted to play games, fine, but Alec had his own games.

"Where were you last night?"

"On a date ... with a very handsome young man."

Alec choked. The blood rushed into his face and he could feel his cheeks almost burning off. That caught him by surprise. Memories of those shining feline eyes in the dark entrance hall, flooded his mind. The feeling of soft lips, firmly pressed against his own. He clenched his fists. "I-it wasn't a date", he hissed.

The thief smirked even wider. He raised one delicate eyebrow. Mocking surprise was playing in his eyes. "Oh? You think I'm talking about you?"

Alec was sure that he was about to pass out the next moment, but something helped him to stand his ground, to not give into the game of this devil. (His sister would surely have come up with a better, insulting nickname.) Hurt. Disappointment. Shame. Alec could feel it clear and sharp in his stomach, cutting his hear, making his fingertips go numb. _Of course he wasn't talking about you, he chided himself. He is just playing with you. He was probably on a date before the break-in. Or maybe he is dating one of the other two thieves? _It tasted bitter, very bitter, but Alec swallowed the pill. It wasn't the first time anyway.

"Where were you on the date? With whom, till what time and what did you do afterwards?", he asked, concentrating on the job he had to do and the reason he had come here in the first place.

* * *

Magnus noticed the difference instantly. The slumped shoulders, the hurt look in those beautiful eyes. It didn't suit them, they should be shining like blue fire, not being dull and clouded by a pain, he didn't yet understood. _Bad experiences, hm? _Deep and honest sympathy overcame Magnus and he suddenly regretted his teasing; a little bit. He wanted to be the spark, that lit the man's determination, not the reason for his depression.

"I wasn't on a date", he said softly. Alec eyed him suspiciously and Magnus couldn't help but smile at that. "I was at home ... with my cat. You want to question him? You'll have to come over to my place to do so, of course."

If Catarina could hear him right now, she'd strangle him right away, not caring that they were in public. His luck, that she was at work at the moment. Alec looked annoyed. He snorted and then without another word, he got up. He put both hands flat on the table and leaned down a bit. This way his mouth was close to Magnus' ear.

"I'm going to catch you, at all cost."

Magnus smiled. He raised his and with his index finger tapped softly against Alec's jaw. "It's a date then?" For some odd reason, he wanted to make up for his earlier slip. Alec snorted again and Magnus had to fight down a shiver as his berth tickled the skin of his neck.

"Ask the handsome man from last night. Maybe he'll-"

"That's what I am doing right now."

Magnus turned his head slightly to directly look at the detective. The heat was back in his cheeks and he nervously bit his lower lip. A quirk Magnus could get used to.

"So, you want a date?" His voice was only a little hoarse and surprisingly steady. Magnus' gaze wandered along the line of Alec's neck to the collar of his shirt.

"I want a lot of things", he whispered. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Alec's lips curling into a crooked smile. "Nice try."

And with that he straightened up and left.

* * *

Alec's knees felt like jelly as he exited the coffee shop. It was a miracle that he made it out without tripping over his own feet. Outside the cold air hit his face and after about five deep breaths, he trusted his legs again. While pulling out his phone, he made his way over to a bench that couldn't be seen from the coffee shop. Clary picked up almost immediately.

"Hey, how'd it go with the guard?"

According to his new partner, the guard was an even bigger pain in the ass than Alec - he took it as a compliment - but otherwise there wasn't anything new. A dark figure on the balcony. Nothing had been stolen and well, the paw prints.

"Okay, let him go and meet me at the entrance in about half an hour", Alec said.

"What are we going to do next?", Clary wanted to know, while Alec could hear the ruffling of fabric in the background. Alec grinned.

"We, dear partner, are going to look for a cat."

"I'm not going to move in with you, Lightwood", she shot back immediately with a dry, rather un-amused voice and Alec's grin grew into simple, free laughter.

**So, that's it for the day. Next weekend, prepare for the quest of Alec and Clary to find the cat, the size of a hamster. ;)**

**Leave a review :) Tell me what you liked and what you didn't (seriously, I'd rather get constructive criticism than nothing ^^)  
Bye Pumpkin :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi :) sorry, it took a bit longer to get the chapter done, but it just didn't work out as planned on the weekend. And do you know that feeling when you are writing a chapter and it gets longer and longer and longer and longer and ... wel, I do now. **

deviant97:** Thank you :) glad, you like the banter of Clary and Alec, more to come in the future, not that much in this chapter though. sry**

wingyan1320: **Yeah, Alec has some things that went wrong at the end of highschool. And as for our other concern ... well, I can't say that much, but I think I still have something up my sleeve. ;) **

Satyana: **First of all, so sorry for not replying today, but I thought, youm ight like it better if I finish this chapter first :) I haven't forgotten about you, just so you know. *hug* Oh, and it's also very much fun to write those scenes with Clary and Alec xD And I'm curious what you think of the scene between Magnus and Alec in this chapter ;D  
**

ahin: **Thank you so very much. :D The printed shirts are a guilty pleasure of myself, but there will be a comment on his way of dressing in the next chapter (I think) maybe that gives a bit more inside on that matter. :) As for the sass ... I am a very big Sherlock-Fan if that explains anything. :) If not, then I just like the idea of Alec with a bit more self-confidence. ^^ And I thought, that he also needed a bit of that to get his job in the first place. *shrug* Camille is right now just a relationship gone wrong, I don't really know if it'd become more relevant to the plot. We'll see :) As for the motives, there might be a hint given in this chapter. ;D I'm not saying anything about the kiss x3**

Wilson Bane:** Awww, thank you so very much :D**

**And as always to all followers and everyone that favorited, I love you all and hope you'll like this chapter. :) Oh, and f there is something that is bothering you or anything like that, please don't hold back to tell me. :)**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, except foe Kendra, she's one of my OCs, but don't worry, she won't be that important to the plot, I simply need a female vet and couldn't think of one of the TMI-group. :) Typos are also mine ;)**

**Chapter 6**

"That's not a cat, sir, that's a hamster."

"No, it's a cat, I saw it, now listen ... it has white fur and-"

"An albino hamster then."

Alec glared daggers at the man in front of him.

"It is a cat, a very small cat, but still a cat", he hissed and it took him every last bit of his willpower to stay calm and not strangle the other man right there and then. "I don't know the name of the cat, but the name of the owner might be Horace Whipplepool."

The vet nodded with a dead serious expression. It was the same expression that was used with mental patients, who kept telling their nurses that there was a purple elephant flying across the sky. Alec sighed inwardly as the vet responded:

"Sure, sure, I'll make sure to give the NYPD a call, if I happen to run across that name or the hamster, sorry, the very small cat."

Alec shot him an annoyed look. "You could also check your database right now and give me a definite answer if there is anyone with that name among your clients", he stated matter-of-factly. The vet nodded again.

"That sure is true, but I can't recall any client with such an ... outstanding name and as you can see, I am very busy at the moment" - there was one old lady sitting in the waiting room with a sleeping dog next to her - "but as soon as I have a bit more time on my hands, I'll be more than happy to look into your request, Detective ..."

"Lightwood", Alec said with an 'I hate you so very much'-smile on his lips, "the name's Alexander Lightwood."

He wouldn't get anywhere with this vet, he already knew that, so he simply plucked one of his business cards from his wallet and handed it to the man in front of him. "If you find anything, please contact me directly."

"Of course."

As Alec stepped out of the building, he looked up at the sky. Dull, grey clouds were blocking the sun since the morning and it was said that it's be raining in the afternoon. Shitty weather for a shitty day. Alec groaned and yawned. He still hadn't gotten any sleep and his body was starting to recognize that.

"I love my job, I love my job", he muttered to himself, while he ran his hands through his black hair, not really caring how it looked afterwards.

"Any success?" The voice of his new partner let Alec snap out of his dark thoughts. He turned around and found the redhead standing next to him, a cup of coffee in every hand.

"Nope." Alec took a cautious sip of his coffee. He still burned his tongue and made a face. Clary grinned against the rim of her own cup. "Whatever, let's get to the next one."

Now that Alec knew that the paw prints had been left at the crime scenes by an actual cat, he had decided, that there had to a vet in New York, who treated the cat. From owning a cat himself, Alec knew, that the thief had to see a vet at least once a year to refresh the basic inoculations. But as a matter of fact there were more vets in New York then he had thought. Surprise, surprise, and none of them really took him seriously. Well, except maybe the first one as that had also been the one, where Alec took Church to.

"Where are we of to next?", Clary asked as they walked down one of the smaller side streets. Alec rummaged through the inside pocket of his jacket and finally found the piece of paper with the name and address of every vet in New York. With a pen, that had been sticking behind his ear, he crossed out the name of the man, he just talked to. "Asshole", he muttered, while crossing it out a second and a third time. "Okay, next one up is a certain ... Dr. Moonflower?"

They stopped at a red traffic light and Clary looked up at Alec with knitted eyebrows.

"Moonflower? That's a funny name." Alec nodded silently. The traffic light changed and they crossed the street. "Maybe you'll have more luck to be taken seriously this time." And she was back to mocking.

Alec glared at Clary, but she only sent him an encouraging smile. they reached the other side of the street and turned right towards the subway station.

"I still cant believe that he would use such a name as an alias."

But it was indeed the case. Alec had requested the papers on that employee, also known as his secret crush. Well, maybe not that secret anymore as Alec wasn't that very good at being subtle.

"Why not? Nobody would take him seriously with that kind of name ... I mean, look at the responses you got when asking for him."

Alec took another sip of his coffee and this time only burned his tongue lightly. If he'd keep going like that, he wouldn't be able to taste anything when the cup was empty. But at least the heat and the bitter taste of the coffee - black, no sugar - helped his fogged brain not to shut down completely.

"Yeah, in a way you're right", he muttered under his breath as they waited for the train to arrive. "But on the other hand, it's not a name that you'll forget easily after hearing it once, don't you think?"

Clary hummed against the rim of her own cup. "You've surely got a point there, but I still think, that the other point is a stronger motivation for him to choose such an alias." She just shrugged.

The train arrived.

They were lucky and got two seats next to each other. The next four stations they passed in surprisingly comfortable silence. Alec sipped his coffee and let his thoughts wander. Clarys words were stuck in his head. Was that really what it seemed to other people? Was he simply imagining things because he had a crush on the thief? Was he over-interpreting things? But then again, the ridiculed paw prints, the cases where nothing had been stolen or destroyed, the things that were stolen in Florida ... No, it couldn't be completely wrong. He already had had this thought before he had been called to the break-in last night, before he had known about the connection between the thief and his crush.

Alec closed his eyes and recalled the face of the thief at the villa. The slitted pupils thin like lines, like straight cracks in a mirror, in an ocean of gold and green and something in-between, like amber. That first moment, when they had looked at each other, both frozen in shock. That split second he had seen fear - of course - in the thief's face, but also something else ... hope?

"Argh", Alec sighed heavily and sipped at his coffee again. Now it had the perfect temperature to drink. It still stung a little bit as the brown liquid touched his tongue, but it didn't hurt that bad anymore.

No, he didn't think that Clary was right. There was more to this ridiculous alias than that. But Alec couldn't blame his partner for thinking the way she did. It had taken himself also a while to get to this conclusion. The one thing that kept Alec drawn to the cases of theft and kidnapping. Of course, you had the ones with the idiots, who simply smashed windows with stones, and the psychotics, who thought, that it was okay to cut off the fingers, ears or toes just to get his way. But there were also other cases. Being a criminal didn't always mean, that the culprit was a bad person, too. It might sound childish and naive, but Alec thought, that those thieves were hiding like children ... or at least the one he had met. He hid, sure, but only because he wanted to be found. Not arrested, just found.

The paw prints were left at the crime scenes because he let his cat roam freely. He sure could easily leave the cat home or at some hideout. He didn't have to let it run around. Why did he even own a cat? Then the alias. Of course, nobody would take him as a serious threat with a name like that, but wasn't that already accomplished by his appearance? Not, that he looked bad with all the glitter or the bright colors. (Alec still hadn't exactly figured out how he could pull it off, but it somehow just ... worked.) But when thinking of a criminal, people were mostly picturing dark figures that tried to stay in the background, that didn't make eye contact. Not a walking rainbow. A very handsome walking rainbow ... with a breathtaking smile and lips, that-

Alec shook his head slightly. No, Alec, bad thoughts, bad thoughts, stay focused!

He almost cursed, but caught himself just in time.

It wasn't necessary to use an outstanding alias with such an outstanding appearance. But as he automatically thought back at his meeting with said rainbow at the coffee shop, he couldn't help, but also remember something that lay beneath the colored contacts and the glitter. The same expression, he had caught at the villa. Hope? It didn't seem to be quite the right word and still ...

"Oh, we're here." Alec was so deep caught up in his thoughts, that Clary almost had to yank him out of the train to not miss their station. The train left and while they dumped their now empty cups in a trash can, Clary eyed her partner suspiciously.

"Everything alright?", she asked slowly.

Alec nodded absent-mindedly.

Pain. There had been pain in those feline eyes. Pain and hope and exhaustion and a silent call ... 'Find me!'.

"Sure, sure", he muttered. "Everything's fine."

* * *

The next vet was a nice woman. A very nice woman. A woman so very nice that Alec started to get scared of her. Dr. Kendra Lucienne Moonflower, was printed on the sign next to the bell button outside. She was about as tall as Alec with shining, long, black hair, which was currently bound back into a messy ponytail. Her green eyes were shining as she greeted the two detectives.

"Hello, how may I help you?", she chimed taking the two detectives a bit by surprise.

"Uhm, we are looking for a cat." Clary regained her composure before Alec, but then again, the gleaming green eyes of the vet weren't on her. Alec was pretty sure, that it wasn't normal for eyes to be so green and this time there were no contacts involved. But maybe he should rethink his idea of normal eyes again as he had seen feline ones on a thief just the other night. This case was simply full of surprises.

"Oh, how cute", the vet sighed and placed one hand on her chest, just above the heart. "But shouldn't you be looking for one at an animal shelter than a vet?"

She cocked her head with her eyes never leaving Alec's face. Finally he found his voice again.

"What? No, not like that, we are detectives of the NYPD. I am-"

"Then probably a dog would be a better choice."

She smiled sweetly and it was just that moment that Alec caught mischievous twinkle in her impossible green eyes. He sighed silently. She was messing with them. Suddenly he thought, that maybe the guy, they had talked to before, hadn't been so very bad.

"We are not a couple", he stated, his foul mood showing in the tone of his voice. The smile of the vet stretched into a devilish grin.

"So, I take it, that you are still single?"

What was wrong wit the people today? Next to him, he could hear Clary snort. "Don't get your hopes up, he's gay", she mentioned dryly, but the smirk of the vet didn't falter one bit.

"What a coincidence", she whispered, "me too."

With a light chuckle she turned around and sat down behind her desk. Then she looked up at the two detectives who were still standing frozen in front of it, near the entrance door to her office. The waiting room was packed outside, but she seemed to trust her assistants to handle things while she was in her office mocking Alec and Clary.

"How can I help you? I don't think you just came by to entertain me." Her thin lips stretched into a broad smile. Right then, Alec wouldn't have put mass murder past her.

"Uhm, well, we are looking for a cat", he began and thankfully regained confidence while talking. He held up his hands up, with only a few inches between them to illustrate the size of said cat. Just like he had done so many times already today. "About this big, well not very big as you can see, with white fur and the name of the owner might be Horace Whipplepool."

"Horace Whipplepool?", she asked as if to make sure, but Alec had gotten that disbelieving tone in response to that name so often today, that he noticed the difference this time instantly. Kendra Moonflower's wasn't laced with that slight snort at the name. She seemed amused, but for another reason. The corners of her mouth twitched a little bit and for one second the smile on her lips was an honest one. Then the moment was gone.

"Hm, I don't recall the name", the vet said while tipping her chin with her index finger, "but I might remember the cat. Let me just check on something."

Alec nodded silently and she turned her eyes to the screen of her Computer. Out of the corner of his eyes, Alec noticed Clary shifting nervously in her place. It calmed him a bit, to know that he wasn't the only one, who wanted to leave the office. This woman was sending chills down his spine ... and not the good kind.

"Hm, the description of the cat matches, but the name of the owner ..."

Alec would have almost hugged the woman. "Really? What's the name you got from the owner?", he asked eagerly. It was by now the only true lead they had in this case and it didn't seem far off for the thief to use more than one alias. Dr. Moonflower looked up at him, her green eyes once again pierced his own, but this time Alec was determined to not flinch at her stare. He was going to catch that thief. He had made a promise.

The woman smiled again, this time it was a silent challenge.

"His name is Magnus Bane."

* * *

Catarina was furious and for once Magnus didn't care.

"What the hell were you thinking?", she yelled at him, but Magnus only kept looking out the big window. It was late afternoon and the sun already started to set. Days ended very early during the winter.

"Why didn't you at least tell me, Magnus, why?"

He sighed exasperated and finally tore his ague away from the sight of the skyline. "Because, Catarina, if I had told you, you wouldn't have let me leave", he answered, almost hissing the words. Not that something like that would faze a woman like Catarina Loss. She angrily crossed her arms in front of her chest. A few seconds of very heavy silence passed between them.

"What if he had caught you?"

Magnus threw his arms up in the air and turned his face back to the window. "He didn't catch me", he muttered, leaning against the cool glass with one shoulder. He only wore a blue sleeveless shirt and he felt a shudder go through his body as the glass met his warm skin.

"No, he didn't, but he saw you, Magnus! He could describe you good enough to get a photofit picture done. Even your eyes."

Magnus felt a small smile tugging on his lips. "As if anybody would believe him."

Surprisingly he felt a pang in his chest at the thought, that the young detective got laughed at by his colleagues. Not your problem, Magnus, he chided himself, not your problem. Though he had the feeling, that Catarina could very well turn this into his problem pretty soon. She snorted.

"Stop taking unnecessary risks, Magnus." Her voice was soft, but every word was spoken with the strength of a woman, who had seen hell. They all had seen hell. They had lived through it. They had survived so many years. Magnus felt the exhaustion spreading through his body again; an exhaustion that disappeared, when he was confronted with eyes of endless blue.

"I don't want to loose you, too."

Magnus's head snapped up so fast, that he thought he could hear his neck crack. His insides turned to ice, his lips became a bloodless line beneath his nose. He could feel his nails digging into his palms. THere were wounds that would never heal. One word, one gesture, one look and they were torn open again.

"Listen, what happened to Tessa-", Magnus began, his voice hoarse, his throat was suddenly dry.

"WAS YOUR DAMN FAULT!" Catarina never screamed, she yelled and shouted, but never did she scream with such passion, with such desperation. "IT WAS OUR FAULT!"

Burning tears streamed down her face, but she didn't reach up to wipe them away. She just let them flow, she let Magnus see them and she let them hurt him.

"I don't want another Florida to happen, Magnus, I miss Tessa, Ragnor misses her, you are missing her and we would miss you. So, stop acting, as if your live doesn't matter." Her voice was now hoarse, too, but not broken by sobs. Magnus bit his lower lip as he watched Catarina taking a few deep breaths to regain her composure again. He didn't go over to hug her, to comfort her because that wasn't possible and they both knew it.

"What will you do if he catches you?" Her voice was deadly calm, her tears already started to dry on her cheeks. Magnus met her eyes steadily, he didn't flinch, he didn't try to avoid her look. What would he do?

Hug him, kiss him, seduce him, ... was he falling already?

"Kill him."

Suddenly the phone buzzed, it was the only one they had kept since Florida. It was a simple one, nothing expensive, nothing fancy and Catarina was the only one to answer it. Her whole body went rigid at the sound of the phone. Something crossed her face, that was very close to fear, but wasn't exactly the same. Since Florida the three thieves got their orders from the voice at the other end of the line. They didn't know, who called, but they knew, what would happen if they refused to follow the given orders.

Catarina took a deep breath before reaching for the phone.

"Yes?", she said and then hurriedly left the room. "Yes, I can hear you."

Magnus' gaze followed her till the door of the next room made that impossible. He sighed heavily. What a fucked up live they had. When had everything started going wrong? With another sigh, he opened the glass door, that led to the balcony. He stepped out into the chilling late afternoon air and made his way to the balustrade. The city looked so very small from there. Magnus climbed onto the balustrade and just as he had done it on the balcony of the Daryaran-villa, he took one step into the open and vanished.

Magnus hadn't lied, when he had said that he knew where Alec lived. He also knew that the cute detective had an apartment with a very small balcony of his own, just in front of the window of the living room. Without making a sound, Magnus landed on the cold stone floor of the balcony. There was light in the living room. The floor inside was completely covered with papers, photographs and colored sticky notes. Magnus grinned to himself, but then suddenly his breath caught as he spotted a figure lying on the floor, about in the middle of the room. Alexander.

First he was scared that he might have collapsed, but his chest was rising in a steady rhythm. The young man had just fallen asleep. Magnus pressed his forehead against the glass of the living room window. Should he risk it? He grinned and it felt honest, a rareness.

"Well, let's see, if I can find a way in", he muttered under his breath looking right and left next to the balcony. All he needed was a little gap, a tilted window, normally he had Ragnor to get this done, but this time he had to help himself. Magnus couldn't walk through solid walls, but as he only needed a tiny opening to slip through, it was very easy to create the illusion, that he could. He was lucky, there was a tilted window to his right.

Inside the apartment the air was warm, but not too warm. Most people tended to senselessly heat their places as soon as the temperature outside dropped to a certain degree. But at Alec's place it was just enough to make the place feel cozy.

Magnus felt a stupid smile tug at his lips as he peaked out from the kitchen into the living room. (The tilted window had been there.) Now he could see that the floor of the living room was covered with material considering the thefts of Magnus, Catarina and Ragnor. Cautiously, to not wake the young man in the middle of the room, Magnus found his way through the room, always on his toes. But suddenly he stopped dead with one foot hanging in the air above one newspaper article. That wasn't a newspaper of New York. He swallowed heavily. That article had been published in a newspaper of Florida. He gulped and finally set his foot down next to the article. His gaze traveled to the young, sleeping man. Another photograph caught his eye. A bathtub. A bathtub he very well knew. That detective was good, better then Starkweather. It should scare him, but it didn't.

Three more steps and Magnus stood right next to Alec and looked down at him, with a thoughtful gaze. The young man was only wearing a black shirt and black sweatpants, plus socks, black as well. It suited him and Magnus felt weirdly privileged being able to see him like that. Alec lay on his side with one arm under his head and the other one placed relaxed on the floor in front of his face. His legs were pulled up a little bit, so, he was sleeping in a fetal position. He looked so very peaceful and before he knew it, Magnus had crouched down next to him, his lips softly pressed against the Alec's temple.

Magnus felt himself calm down at the touch.

"Save me, little one", he whispered, "save me from this insanity that is my life."

* * *

When Alec awoke the next morning, he could smell the scent of sandalwood lingering in the air.

**So, let me know what you liked, what you didn't :) Leave a review!**

**Bye Pumpkin **


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey there :) I am not completely happy with this chapter and at the same time, I kind of like it, so, I'll just hope, that you'll go with the latter x3**

**Let's get to more important things: OMG 8 Reviews for that last chapters! You are simply the best. :3 *hugs to all***

deviant79:** Thank you, thank you, thank you. It's more likely a Magnus-chapter, but I hope, you'll still like it. :)**

Wilson Bane:** Oh my god, top three?! I am so glad, you like this story so much. *sobbing tears of joy***

BooksBeforeLife:** Agh, you are so very nice. ;D**

fictionfairytalesfantasy4921:** Yep, there will be saving ahead. Promise ;) Not right now, but later on. :)**

wingyan1320:** I am kind of scared ... how did you get inside my head? Oo**

Satyana:** Here is your answer, sweet sweetheart ;D and yes, I am cruel, very cruel! *muhahaha* (but not that cruel :3 I can be very fluffy, too xD) **

worldcrabination:** I am literally crying tears of joy right now. Thank you, thank you, thank you very much. :) (though I think, my writing is a bit crappier in this chapter, but I'll work on getting better in the next chapter again)**

Guest:** Love, love, love you, too for reviewing ;) keep reading, pretty please.**

**And on to the reason, you are all here again ;D ****Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine :) except for Kendra. **

**Chapter 7**

"You did what? Why the hell, did you give him my real name, Kendra?"

Said vet chuckled and Magnus was close to strangling her, but he restrained himself because if you want your cat to be healthy, you better not kill the vet. They had met for coffee because Kendra's girlfriend was still somewhere in Germany, Magnus needed someone to talk about nothing and he wasn't in the mood to face Catarina just yet.

"I thought, you'd appreciate the challenge, sweetheart." Kendra smiled her cruel smile, that made her eyes shine like emeralds. They always reminded Magnus a little bit of Camille, but at the same time he liked Kendra much more ... or at least, he used to.

"He is already closer to the truth than the Starkweather-guy had been in his last minutes, you're putting my life on the line."

At that the smile of the vet vanished. She pursed her lips and raised one index finger. "I'm the one risking your life?", she whispered and shot Magnus a pointed look. "I don't think so."

Magnus opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it.

He, Ragnor, Catarina and Tessa once had decided, that they'd play this game as if the had nothing to loose. It had been on a warm afternoon back in Florida at some beach, whose name he couldn't recall anymore, and they hadn't thought of the simple fact, that everybody had something to loose. First and foremost ones life. Kendra didn't know the story of Tessa Gray and Magnus didn't plan on telling her, but she still had a point. He was the only one to blame. But it sucked to blame yourself, to discover the faults of the past as your own. He grinned halfheartedly. His life simply sucked.

"Magnus, I don't know, what's going on in your life right now or at all", Kendra's soft voice cut into his dark thoughts. The grin vanished from his face and the muscles in his cheeks already felt sore. "But maybe that detective could help you."

"Help me?", Magnus asked incredulously, while on the inside his heart was pleading. He would have never admitted it out loud, but he craved to return to the side of Alexander Lightwood. The calmness he had felt the previous night, was like a drug. If he was honest with himself, he never should have gotten into the apartment, never should have touched the young man like that. There had been physical contact between them before, of course, but never like this. Magnus's lips still tingled with that barely-there kiss, he had eft on Alexander's temple the night before.

What would it be like to wake up next to that man every morning?

"Yes, help you. I mean, you do like him, right?"

"What gives you the idea?" Sure, she was right, but that didn't mean, that Magnus would spill his secrets because of a possible lucky guess. He leaned back in his chair and looked up at the sky, which was a shining, light-blue. There was still a brisk wind blowing, but the sunny sky always managed to improve his mood. Unfortunately, this way he missed the wicked smile on Kendra's lips, when she posed her next question:

"When did you meet him the first time?"

"May, 27th, on a Mon- damn it!" His gaze snapped back to the vet sitting across from him. Kendra's smile stretched into a full-blown, mischievous grin.

"I got you", she sang, while tilting her head from the right to the left with every word. Magnus glared at her, but finally he sighed because he knew, that there was no sense in denying it now.

"So, I like him, what of it? There's nothing gonna happen anyway."

Kendra pursed her lips and sipped her coke. In front of her there were standing one cup of coffee, half empty, another cup with tea, one hot chocolate, a glass of water and the coke, she just placed down on the table. Magnus made a mental note to never invite this woman to drinks. They continued to sit at the little cafe in comfortable silence and Magnus had to admit that as scary as that woman could be, she was actually quite fun to hang out with.

While Kendra exchanged the coke for the coffee cup, Magnus let his thoughts wander to said Monday in May. It hadn't been at the coffee shop, that he had first run across the detective, it had only been there, that he had realized, what the younger man did for a living and that there was no future scenario, where Magnus could simply ask him out and hope, that everything would work out somehow.

He knew that, he always had, but he couldn't stop dreaming, hoping, longing.

It hadn't been raining back then, but sometimes when Magnus recalled the memory, he made it rain. He wondered if things would have gone differently. They did, but only in his mind. Only there they ended up kissing in the rain. But it hadn't been raining. A cold wind had been blowing and Magnus was on his way to a meeting with Ragnor. Catarina had texted them the address of a possible new hideout. It had a big balcony, the text had said. Magnus was walking with his head slightly hunched between his shoulders, which was why he noticed the other man, who was walking towards him, too late. The young detective - as he now knew - was distracted as well as he was talking on the phone. Their shoulders brushed and Magnus just about to complain, when the other man stopped as well or slowed down more likely and turned his head to meet Magnus' gaze. The moment their eyes locked, Magnus felt himself drowning in blue.

A pair of stunning eyes shone from beneath the hood of a black sweater. Maybe that had been the moment, he had started falling for Alec, but he wasn't quite sure about that. It wasn't that easy to win over a heart, right? It wasn't that easy. It couldn't be.

What happened next, made every mean word die right on Mganus' lips. The young man smiled apologetically at him and mouthed the word 'sorry'. Then he turned around again and walked away. He left Magnus alone with the drumming of his racing heart. Magnus stood there on the sidewalk with cold wind cutting into the skin of his face, but right then it didn't matter. How long did he stand there? About five minutes without moving. It could have also bee seconds or hours, he wouldn't have been able to tell if not for looking at his watch.

It had been nothing special. There shoulders had brushed. Nothing big and it shouldn't be possible to win a heart that easily. A smile from a stranger, a soundless word and eyes looking at him so honestly. It was a simple apology, but Alec had meant it, and maybe it had been that pure honesty, that had gotten Magnus hooked without realizing. Maybe.

And maybe they would have kissed, when it had been raining.

His phone went off and pulled Magnus out of his daydreaming. It was a call from Ragnor.

"Hey, sweety, what's up?", Magnus asked cheerfully when he answered the call. Kendra had finished her coke in the meantime and had moved on to the hot chocolate. She smiled at him, but at the same time she didn't. It was only a tiny smile against the rim of her cup. That woman would always remain a secret to him. He was never able to read the twinkle in her green eyes, that were kind of like the Camille's, or the smile that was tugging on her lips most oft the time. Kendra had her own goals and reasons for doing what she did, but she also had a way of helping people without pushing them into a certain direction.

"The sky", Ragnor's playful response sounded from the other end of the line. Magnus felt an honest smile on his own lips. It was a dumb joke, but it kept them grounded, helped them staying sane. He could hear Ragnor chuckling through the speaker and he felt a little bit more safe then before. A little bit more self-confident. A little less stressed.

"So, why are you calling? Other than hearing my beautiful voice?" Magnus could literally hear Ragnor rolling his eyes at him, but his friend didn't comment on it.

"We have a date set for the next ... appointment." The word tasted like acid, even if Magnus was only hearing it. It made his guts kind of turn upside down and not in a good way. They had decided to call the orders they got from whoever called Catarina an 'appointment' because theoretically an appointment could be cancelled and with using it, they felt a little bit less like they were ordered around.

"When and where?", was all Magnus asked. The playful tone vanished from his voice.

"Tonight, at midnight, at the Guggenheim Museum."

"A museum?", Magnus asked incredulously and sat up straight in his chair. "We don't do museum, we never did", he almost hissed, suddenly afraid of every word, that could be overheard. Kendra looked at him mildly interested, but he already knew, that she wouldn't ask any questions. In another time at another place, she would have made a great friend.

"I know", came Ragnor's voice through the phone, "but that's what Catarina told me, she wasn't happy about that either. What can we do?"

He was right. They had to do as it was ordered. They couldn't cancel. They never had a choice. Magnus swallowed heavily.

"Okay, I'll be there."

* * *

Whenever they could fit it into their work schedules Alec and Jace went out for lunch together. Alec, who had still a slight bruise on his shin, had asked Clary if she wanted to come along, but the redhead surprisingly already had a lunch date. A female date. Isabelle. Jace had laughed at his face as he had dragged Alec out of his office and Alec wasn't quite sure if he liked the fact that his new partner and his sister had somehow started to develop a friendship. The first time, Isabelle had visited him to talk to Clary, it had been the day in the archives and the two girls had thrown Alec out of the room while they had been talking. Isabelle had also finished his newly approved Frappuccino.

"Come on, quit moping and be glad, that it seems to work out between those two", Jace tried to lighten the mood, but it only made Alec eying him skeptically as he leaned against the opposite wall of the elevator. Jace's smile faltered a little bit. He nervously shuffled around on his feet, while the elevator slowly started moving.

"What?"

Alec cocked his head. "What is it with the redhead?", he simply asked. Jace sighed heavily and pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants. He averted Alec's face as he answered:

"We've been dating for about a month now."

Alec simply nodded. He knew that much and waited for his friend to continue. It wasn't something that out of the ordinary. During highschool, one month would have been an almost-marriage for someone like Jace, but after they graduated, he started having more serious relationships, that lasted for at least a few weeks or even months. Alec was secretly proud of him for getting to that point, but Jace had never been that eager to cause contact of Alec (as well as his other friends) with his girlfriends. Alec would mostly get their name, but not really much more. This time, it was different and not only because Clary was working for the NYPD as well.

"And I really like her, Alec."

"Would have never guessed that", Alec replied with a dry voice. The elevator stopped and they exited, but he was pretty sure, that if their ride had taken a bit longer, he might have gotten kicked in the shins by Jace, too, for that comment. But he couldn't help it. His friend kept driving him crazy with all that nervousness whenever Clary was around. Alec sighed.

"Seriously, Jace, just spill it, what's up with her? You've liked girls before her and-"

"I invited her for Saturday."

Alec froze and then turned around so fast, that his world momentarily started spinning. "Come again?"

"You heard me, Alec", he stated. Sure, he had, but still ...

"Jace, Saturday is - has always been - how could you do that without talking to me first and to Isabelle?" It took him very much not to start screaming and he was actually very proud of himself for that accomplishment.

One year after Alec had moved out of his parents place, he, Isabelle and Jace had developed the routine to meet on Saturdays to cook together. They had somehow grown to become a little family, where their real families somehow broke apart. Jace's parents had had an ugly divorce, when he had just started highschool, and with Isabelle and Alec and their parents, well, things weren't all sunshine and happy, rainbow puking unicorns. But if it was the three of them, the world seemed to work again.

Alec was getting used to having Clary as his partner and was slowly working his way up to being a decent partner himself, but inviting her to their cooking sessions? It felt ... wrong. Too much at once. He sighed heavily.

"I talked to Isabelle and she was okay with it."

Why did he see that coming?

* * *

Magnus stood in front of an empty wall. The desired object this time had been a Kandinsky-painting and Magnus still couldn't see the appeal of those paintings with their geometrical shapes. That van Gogh-copy, they had stolen before, was something nice to look at. Catarina, who always had had a soft spot for art, had taken a picture of the painting to save it as the background of her phone. Speaking of which ...

Magnus grinned as he got his own phone out. He switched the screen on and was greeted by the picture of an adorable young man, sleeping on the floor of his living room.

"Damn, you are really head over heels for this detective." Startled Magnus looked up at Ragnor, who continued to skeptically eye the background of his phone.

"I wouldn't call it that." Magnus cleared his throat and slipped his phone back into the front pocket of his pants. Ragnor simply raised one eyebrow. "Magnus", he said in a very calm matter, as a doctor would talk to his patient, "you have a picture of that guy as the background of your phone. The last time that happened ... oh, wait, it never did."

He beckoned Magnus with a slight movement of his head to follow him outside and started walking; Magnus followed him close behind, scowling at the back of his friend. "It's just a crush, Ragnor", he tried to convince his friend as they stepped through the backdoor of the museum, passing the sleeping figure of a guard.

"Sure, sure", Ragnor muttered. They rounded the building and followed a narrow side street. "Stalking crushes and lying next to them on the floor, plus taking pictures, is absolutely normal. I understand."

Magnus rolled his eyes at him. A few blocks away from the museum, they stepped out on Fifth Avenue. The streetlights were off and left the street in almost complete darkness. The shadows, that Magnus carried like a second skin during the night, shielded them from any curious spectators eyes. So, that if anybody should spot them, they were forgotten instantly.

"It's not the same as with other crushes" - he actually did have quite a number of those in the past - "I can't just call him and ask for a date. He is out to hunt us down, and he knows me ... well, he thinks, he knows me." His voice kept getting weaker, while his steps became likewise shorter. In the end, he stopped completely, looking at Ragnor, who was still walking in front of him, probably muttering something about how this whole thing was stupid and lunatic. It was then, that Magnus felt a pull at his heart. The streetlight above his head flickered and came back to life as did the other ones in the street. At that Ragnor suddenly stopped and turned around. Magnus could hear the sound of his steps, coming closer, but he kept his gaze fixated at some point in the distance.

"I don't want to go back", he whispered and he knew, that Ragnor could hear him. "I feel filthy."

At that his friend raised one eyebrow again. "Why?"

"We don't do museums", Magnus pressed his lips into thin line. "We never did."

"Things change", Ragnor muttered, but by the way he was uncomfortably shuffling on his feet, Magnus could tell, that he was feeling the same way. But he didn't press the matter. He simply snapped his fingers and knew that the electricity at the museum was working again. The guards would wake up and they would notice the missing painting. The one, Ragnor had hidden somewhere to get it the next day. He was exceptional good at hiding. Whenever Magnus looked him in the eyes, he couldn't read a thing.

"Let's go home." The words cut bloody lines into his tongue and Magnus felt that painful pull in his chest again. He had always had the trait to know, what he wanted. Not everytime he knew exactly why, but at the what-part, he was never wrong.

And what he wanted right now ... He wanted to get back to a certain apartment with a small balcony in front of the living room window, he wanted to fall asleep next to the young man, that calmed his storming thoughts, he wanted to wake up to sleepy blue eyes ... and right now his want threatened to tear him apart.

_Tonight_, he thought, _tonight I will call him_.

He smiled at that because it was weird and stupid and because he had never been the one to call. But it helped a tiny bit to ease the pain.

**Oh dear, was that cheesy? Yeah, I guess so ... but I LOVE cheesy, from time to time. :) Well, leave a review, tell me, what you think and prepare for some sweet midnight-phone-calls ;D (and a game of '20 questions extreme')**

**Bye Pumpkin  
P.S.: With the last chapter, this story reached 50 followers xD *throwing confetti***


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey there :D I had a damn shitty day at work and I thought, hey, you can distract yourself by finishing this chapter.  
Uhm, it also seemed, that you guys were more excited about the questions, that I hope, it turned out okay. *anxiously hiding beneath a table* The question might not be as you expect, but I simply tried to make them fit in the context of the story. :3**

ahin:** Thank you :) okay, I am not exactly promising anything, but the Florida-story might come up in the next chapter and the Saturday-meeting should be the one after that. If everything goes as planned. :)**

BooksBeforeLife:** Awww, thank you, hope, there is also some cuteness for you in this chapter. :3**

gabbymartin62:** I'm working on it ;) ... and I think, I've been pretty fast with this one. :)**

deviant97:** I really hope, I don't dissappoint, but the game will continue in the next chapter, so if you didn't like the way I handled it in this chapter, let me know what you didn't like, so I can hopefully improve it in the next chapter :) **

Satyana:** Hey, sweety ;) This one is for you and I very much hope, that you'll be better soon ... though I sadly have to say, that I wasn't that very creative (in my opinion) But next chapter, you might get the fluff, so, if you don't like this chapter ... well, you can still look forward to the next? *gulp* **

Wilson Bane:** And I'm already anxious of your opinion. . (God, I hope you like it.)**

wingyan1320:** Thank you :) and PLEASE don't abandon me, if this chapter wasn't exactly, what you wanted to read and just tell me in a review, so I can work on it in the next one.**

**Disclaimer: Still not mine :) I own other stuff.**

**Chapter 8**

Running from the truth felt much like trying to ignore the tapping of a finger an the shoulder. Facing the truth, especially an uncomfortable one, felt like standing in front of a solid wall, hang the the rough structure of the cold stone pressed against your fingertips. You lean your head against the wall and you have to accept, that it won't crumble. Alec had several of these walls and he found himself standing in front of them from time to time. There had been the wall with the words 'I am gay' engraved. Over time those words had changed into 'People look down on me because I am gay'. Another wall carried the words 'I could have prevented the suicide of the woman living upstairs, but I didn't see it coming'. A wall, Alec had almost crashed into, because the truth had been angrily flung at him in public, spoken in harsher words, than he had chosen, had the words 'I am not easily likable' written across the stone.

There were also other walls, with doors in them. They were truths, that helped Alec; with his job, with his daily life. They gave him support, when he was stumbling, helping him to feel comfortable with himself again. Those were truths like 'I am bad at small talk' or 'I work best alone'. Others he had built himself, to have a way of preserving guidelines. These walls carried words like 'There is no perfect crime' or ... 'Magic doesn't exist'. That one had always stood in the background, hidden in the shadows of Alec's mind. It was the one, that he had never thought to be confronted with ever again since building it, but now he stood right in front of it. The door, that had been added later, was gone. It was a truth, that Alec had never thought he would ever question.

'Magic doesn't exist.'

Alec stared at the copy of a picture lying on the living room floor in front of him. It was a rough sketch of a young boy, whose eyes had been roughly repainted with the eyes of a cat. It was a primitive pamphlet from the 13th century. Next to it, there lay the protocol of the hearing of a young man, who had been accused of the act of sorcery and found guilty. But it was noted, that the culprit couldn't be brought to justice by being burned because he escaped the town's prison by simply vanishing from his cell. The next one in line was the file of an orphanage from the 19th century. It was the case of a child, an 17 year old boy, who had gotten into a fight. Old photographs were added, documenting the bruises on his throat, hi abdomen and upper arms. There were also scratches in his face as he glanced up at the camera with so very familiar green eyes, but they were dull and kid of lifeless. Those eyes could be found again in the picture of a young man, who was enrolled into a german university, majoring in literature. He smiled proudly at the camera, his eyes shining like emeralds, when the picture for his student card had been taken.

The name Magnus Bane could be found throughout the past eight centuries.

Alec was again confronted with the memory of those piercing cat eyes and slitted pupils. It hadn't been a dream, hallucination or a trick of light. No contacts. He had suspected that before, but there had been that little voice in his head, whispering, that it couldn't be possible. The tapping on his shoulder had grown stronger, since he had gotten the name from the vet. Magnus Bane. Not Horace Whipplepool, who actually had been a nobleman in victorian england, who had died young because of a heavy fever. The other name seemed much more fitting for the man, the thief, the Starbucks employee. Another picture, another memory resurfaced. The moment, when the thief - Magnus? - turned into black smoke at the Daryaran-villa.

"Magic doesn't exist", Alec whispered to himself and almost started laughing at himself. He was transported back to the evening at his room in his parents house or when he was laying awake at the school dorm, whispering to himself 'I am not gay.' He had pleaded for it to be true, but no deity had listened to him. Then he had accepted that one truth about himself. He had actually felt pretty good with it, almost proud. Isabelle was okay with it, Jace, too, his mother, well, she was surprised, but had still hugged him afterwards. Max couldn't have cared less, but it was the moment, he had looked into his fathers eyes, that his whole world had crumbled. It had come crashing down on him and it had taken him a whole year to build it back up; alone and in his own way. He had succeeded in surviving on his own, but he lost something that day and now he was scared.

Am I going mad? Am I loosing my mind?

Those question tun through his mind over and over again.

"No, magic doesn't-"

It was that moment, that his phone went off. Unregistered number.

* * *

If you knew the right people, getting the mobile number of a detective of the NYPD or anybody else in the city, was actually very easy. Magnus had Alec's number from the day, he had been assigned to their case. It was a safety precaution. They also had had the number of that Starkweather-guy. For whatever Catarina could accomplish with a phone number and a computer. She also always got a full background check, but Magnus had never bothered to look into them. He had never particularly cared that much and now, that he actually did, it felt wrong, to invade Alec's privacy.

'Said the man, who broke into his apartment and took pictures of him, while he was sleeping', chided the little voice in Magnus' head. He sighed. God, that sounded creepy, even for him. With another frustrated sigh building up in his chest, Magnus glanced at the screen of his phone. The black numbers were a stark contrast to the white background. His thumb was slightly brushing the call-button and his mind was screaming 'Come on!'.

Then he pressed the button.

* * *

"Lightwood?"

Alec rubbed his eyes and glanced at his watch. It was almost around six in the morning. He had tried to get some sleep, but it hadn't really worked out. So, he had decided to get up early.

"Hey", sounded the voice of another man through the speaker. Alec knew that voice like he knew the mood swings of his sister. Suddenly he was wide awake, adrenalin rushing through his veins.

"Who's there?", he finally asked. His throat was dry, his voice came out in a hoarse whisper.

"Already forgetting me?", was the answer and Alec could swear, that he heard a sad smile. But it wasn't possible to actually hear smiles, right? "You know, who I am."

"Do I?", Alec quipped and it came out more harshly, than he had intended, but he couldn't help the growing frustration gnawing at his nerves. He didn't know a thing about this man, this thief. Di he?

"No, not really." At that, his anger suddenly deflated. "But I called to make you an offer. Nothing big, nothing special and it actually is just a game." Alec could hear him chuckle, but it sounded lifeless, dull, close to tears. It sounded ... wrong.

* * *

"So, you're only going to play with me again. Is that, why you called?" Magnus felt a pang in his chest and he regretted his teasing instantly.

"No", he whispered. "But only in a game, we can pretend, that we are just to people talking on the phone." When he didn't get an answer, Magnus got up, from where he was sitting on the rooftop and walked over to edge. He was on top of the building next to the one Alec lived in. The curtains of the window in the living room, the one with the little balcony in front, were open, allowing him to look at the small figure sitting in the floor.

He had planned on only calling Alec. But he couldn't do it from the hideout, in case the conversation was overheard. Magnus had tried the rooftop, but he had just felt terribly lonely up there. Then it had accured to him, that before calling the detective so very early in the morning, he had to make sure, that he was actually awake. One thing led to another and the only thing, that prevented him from breaking in again, was the fact, that Alec was indeed already up.

Just a phone call, Magnus, he told himself, as his eyes followed every movement of the detective. Alec stood up and disappeared from the living room. For a second, Magnus was scared, that somebody else was with him, but he returned a minute later with a cup of coffee or something similar in his hand. Through the phone, Magnus could hear him taking a sip and he absolutely couldn't do anything against the smile spreading on his lips.

"A game, hm?", Alec's tentative voice sounded from the other end of the line and Magnus longed to be right there with him. No, he chided himself and turned around sharply, facing the empty rooftop.

"Yes, a game of 20 questions", Magnus said, his voice only a little bit shaky.

"You're kidding, right?" And at that he simply laughed.

* * *

The laughter was warm and Alec felt oddly comfortable at the thought, that it was caused by something he had said. But with the next words the laughter was gone, though the warmth remained.

"I'm not kidding, Alexander. I'm absolutely honest with you and it simply is an offer. You can hang up right now and I'll never bother you again. We don't have to see each other again till the day, you catch me and-"

"I'll never catch you." The words were out of his mouth before Alec could even think about it. His gaze flickered back to the files, he had collected on the person, that carried the name Magnus Ban throughout the centuries. Yes, he told himself, that's the new wall and it isn't made of stone, but of metal; smooth and cold and cruel to the touch. He couldn't catch a thief, that had the ability to turn into smoke. Alec couldn't predict, where the next break-in would happen, he didn't know ...

In the end everything came down to having the necessary knowledge.

"Maybe you're right." There, he could hear the tears and the lifeless smile creeping back into his voice. Alec tightened his grip around the cup he was holding. He had brewed the coffee about an hour ago and then forgotten about it. Now it was cold, but he was drinking it anyway. He let his eyes roam across the papers, strewn on his living room floor. It would feel awful to simply stuff it back into a box. Was he really ready to give up?

"I'll play the game."

* * *

Magnus grinned at the firmness of Alec's voice and turned around again, to spy through the living room window. The detective sat down on the floor again, seemingly waiting and occasionally sipping his coffee. It had to be cold, judging by the face he made with every sip. A heavy sigh escaped Magnus' lips. How could one guy make him go from a depressed single to a giddy schoolgirl and back in a matter of ten minutes? That couldn't be healthy ... but it felt kind of nice.

"Okay, sweetheart, twenty questions for each of us and nothing but the truth. Let's start with something simple ..." Magnus hesitated for a short moment to sort through the questions he had for Alec.

"Are you gay?"

He could hear Alec's rich laughter through the phone and he could see him shaking with amusement through the window and never ever before had something felt so right. He could drown in this sensation and not giving a damn about the rest of the world.

"I-i thought, you wanted to start with something easy, not something so ... i don't know, obvious."

Magnus leaned against the low wall, surrounding the rooftop. He smirked, when he replied:

"Come on, I wanted to see you smile, just play along."

He realized his mistake only a secede too late, but he couldn't take back the words, he had said.

* * *

Alec's laughter died on his lips. Magnus - it still felt a bit weird to actually use that name - wanted to see him smile? First he blushed, then he knitted his brows and finally he jumped up from the floor, to hastily look around the apartment. He checked the windows last, but he couldn't spot the thief anywhere.

"Your answer?", he could hear the thief's voice on the phone. Alec pursed his lips as he glance one last time through the big window in his living room. A game, hm? Well, let's play a game. Alec smirked to himself and turned around to once again take his place on the floor.

"Yes, I am gay", he stated. "Now it's my turn. Is Magnus Bane your real name?"

* * *

Magnus thoughtfully tapped his chin. "Well, I wasn't born with that name", he began slowly, "but I've lived with it for the longest time of my life ... so, I guess, that's a yes. Why did you become a detective?"

"Starbucks didn't want me."

Magnus bursted into laughter. "Come on, no tragic backstory? No killed relatives? No-"

"No, just a father, I wanted to impress and failed." There was a sadness in his voice, that made Magnus run to him, hug him and to never let go again.

* * *

It was one of the truths, of which Alec had never thought, that he'd say them out loud. "I had the job and I needed the moony, so, I stayed. How old are you?"

Silence started growing and Alec could hear his own heart beating almost unbearably loud. The hand, that was holding the phone, started shaking a little bit. He nervously bit his lower lip and tried to take a calming breath, but it somehow turned into a snort, a very shaky one.

"805."

The thief's voice cut through the silence like a knife, it made it shatter like a mirror, that was punched. Alec could swear, that somewhere there was the sound of clinging, breaking glass.

"What are you?", he whispered.

"One question at a time", Magnus chided playfully, but with a voice so calm, so smooth, that it managed to even calm Alec's nerves a little. "Would you have ever asked me out? If you hadn't been assigned to my case."

* * *

It was actually one of the questions, Magnus had had reserved for later, but he changed his mind. It had been fun to tease Alec at the coffee shop, but Magnus couldn't help but wonder, if it had gotten anywhere. What if he wasn't the thief, Alec was hunting? What if he had stayed the colorful Starbucks employee, that loved to tease him? Would he have gotten that one kiss, that still lingered on his lips, that had been so painfully short and still set his nerves on fire, whenever he thought about it? What if he had asked him out? Would he have said yes?

He was falling, he was falling so hard for this man.

"Probably not. I'm not very good at social contacts, let alone dating."

Magnus took a deep breath. "Would you have said yes, if I had asked you out?"

* * *

Alec chuckled. He wasn't proud of his social awkwardness. He never had been. What would have happened if he had asked Magnus? Was it too late to change things? But the game was still on and Alec felt himself grinning stupidly, when he spoke the following words:

"One question at a time. It's my turn. What are you?"

"A demon, that tends to lose his way."

Alec knit his brows and slightly tilted his head to the right.

"Sinning?"

A soft chuckle, that he started to like, came in reply.

"Bad sense of direction."

* * *

It was lame, Magnus knew that much, but he couldn't help it. With a map, he was fine, but without one, he was lost. The only reason, he still always reached his destination was, that he could fly up at a point, which was high enough to find out, where exactly he was and where he should be heading to. "May turn, would you have said yes?"

"Probably yes." The detective answered hesitantly and Magnus could literally see his flushed face in front of him, without looking down at the window of the apartment. At the moment, Alec was covering his eyes with one hand and his head hung slightly forward, so, practically the rest of his face was hidden by his ink-black bangs. Magnus' fingers itched to brush them away, to take his hand away from those intoxicating eyes, to feel Alec's skin beneath his fingertips.

"Why are you doing this?"

"Talking to you?", Magnus asked confused. It wasn't possible, that Alec's self-esteem was that low, was it?

"Being a thief." Oh, he was talking about that. "I mean, most of the time, you don't even take anything. What's the deal of breaking in? It's not even really breaking in with you and your ... smoke-thing."

A crooked smile tugged on Magus' lips.

"Because it's possible", he whispered and looked up at the morning sky, where the light of the sun had started to chase off the deep blue of the night sky. "Because it is one of the things, you can always do, no matter where, no matter when. Because I'm curious. Because I love luxury, the feeling of expensive velvet under my fingertips, the cold surface of golden candleholders, the playful lines of extravagant floral designs on the walls. Because in the past, I was always thrown out for what I am and now I'm breaking in, with the help of what I am. I'm thinking about it as a sort of ... revenge."

* * *

Like under a spell, Alec listened to the smooth, dark voice and couldn't help, but to understand. Well, he understood it, but only to a certain point. "And why are you stealing things?"

"What music do you like?"

Alec sighed, but he got the hint.

"Depends, right now, I like listening to Ryan Star and a lot of Country Music."

Another soft chuckle. "For the good mood?"

"For the good mood. Now, why are you not only breaking in, but also stealing things?"

"Because most people don't miss them."

"I'm pretty sure, that the Zehava's definitely miss their money."

Alec could hear a sharp intake of breath and he felt bad for shooting back so harshly; but then again, he was right, wasn't he? The things, that were stolen at the break-ins in New York weren't little things like candles or fragranced oil. They were serious crimes.

"They got insurance, they will get it back from the bank." The answer was cold and somehow Magnus' voice sounded distant. But it only made Alec more furious.

"It is still a crime, Magnus", he almost shouted.

"So what?", Magnus hissed, "It is a crime to kill and still people tried to burn me, because they were scared. My own father tried to drown me. It is a crime to abuse others and still people thought, it'd be okay, because I am different. It is a crime to rap-" He suddenly stopped and Alec noticed, that he was holding his breath. "Do you really expect me to give a damn about other people's money? Especially about the money of the rich? In the end, it's nothing more than paper and metal."

A cold shiver ran down Alec's spine and he took a deep breath to calm his nerves, but it didn't really work. The mood between them had suddenly shifted. He wasn't talking to the nice Starbucks-guy, no, he was talking to a criminal. Alec gulped. He was talking to a demon. His right hand started shaking and he dug his fingernails into the flesh of his palms to stop it. Why was he suddenly so scared? Why was he suddenly yearning for the closeness of the thief?

"I am not the good guy, Alec, and I never will be."

* * *

Magnus clenched his fist. Right or wrong, legal or illegal. Why did everybody make such a fuss about it? Why was money always so very important? They had been ordered to do the break-in at the Zehava's place, but that was the only reason, Magnus felt bad about it. He hated being ordered around by someone he didn't even knew. He despised the fact, that he wasn't able to choose on his own, what he wanted to take. He knew, that he had been made a tool for someone he didn't even know and he had vowed to himself, that this person would pay. But he couldn't act on that desire yet. He would risk Catarina's and Ragnor's life and he didn't want to lose them the way, he had lost Tessa. He had been careless back then, but he wouldn't make that mistake again. He could still hear Ragnor screaming at him. 'You said, you were sure, she'd be safe!'. Catarina had been crying as well, she had shed too many tears because of him already. Ragnor had punched him and Magnus had hated himself. Catarina and Ragnor weren't the same as him. They were only part-demon, blessed with a long, but not an endless life.

"I am not the good guy", he whispered.

He was the demon. He was over 800 years old, he could take everything, what he wanted if it weren't for his friends. Right now, he could ...

His gaze wandered to the big window of Alec's living room. Alec stood right behind the glass, looking up at him. His blue eyes had found him. He could see his lips moving and he could hear his voice, soft, like a summer breeze.

"Why are you crying?"

Was he? Magnus touched his cheek and his fingertips really came away wet, stained with salty tears. He took one shaky breath, a second one, a third one.

"Because I am sad."

* * *

Alec didn't know why, but he opened the window, which was actually more likely a glass door, that led to the balcony. He didn't step outside though. It was a shy, simple invitation.

* * *

Magnus looked down at the open door, heard the shy words resounding in his mind. 'Why are you crying?' When had been the last time, somebody had seen him crying, had cared about his tears?

Without thinking about the consequences for once, he slipped the phone into the pocket of his plain, black jacket and stepped onto the low wall, that surrounded the rooftop. One step, then there as that well-known feeling of the free fall. It was there and almost the same second, it was gone. The next thing, he noticed, was that he felt the solid ground of the small balcony beneath his feet. His eyes were locked with a pair of shining blue ones.

Alec had also taken the phone from his ear and he had taken one step back. Magnus took the same step to get inside the apartment. He stood in front of the detective now, whose eyes were tentatively searching his face for an emotion to read, but Magnus knew how to lie. His tears had stopped, dried by the wind, the cold, crisp morning air.

* * *

Alec had done a lot of stupid things in his life, but he doubted, that anything was as stupid as the one thing he had just done -inviting a criminal into his home - or the one, he was about to do. He raised one hand to Magnus' face, wiping away the tears, that had started drying on the warm skin.

"Don't be sad", he whispered and as he got lost in those inhumanly feline eyes, their faces were only inches away from each other. Why did he even care? Alec didn't know. He just did. The demon's skin was soft beneath his touch and maybe that was purpose because the skin of the killer always was the most beautiful one.

"We shouldn't be doing this", Magnus muttered and his breath tickled Alec's lips. They were so close, he could smell the faint scent of cat, of storm and rain and cold nights, of paint and loneliness.

"No", Alec whispered against the thief's lips. "We definitely shouldn't."

He wouldn't be able to catch Magnus the usual way. Why not trying something new?

At least, he was a capable detective ... yeah, and a damn horny one. But he also still had about ten questions left and he was determined to get his answers.

**Still there?**

** If yes, please leave a review and tell me, what you liked and what you didn't.  
And I just wanted you to know, that the little twist at the ending was absolutely unexpected. Alec acted completely on his own. This was not, how I had it planned. **

**Well, for the next chapter ... hm, not sure, prepare for an emotional rollercoaster? Don't leave me! Q.Q  
(Wow, I sound really desperate now. I guess, I should go to sleep.)**

**Bye Pumpkin  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, first of all, I LOVE YOU! Seriously, you are the best readers EVER! Q.Q So many reviews for the last chapter and I would like to answer to them all with just one big THANK YOU because that very much is everything I can think of right now. I was so moved by the thing you wrote and the the sheer number of reviews. *sniff* God, I was so nervous about the last chapter and I will always be a bit anxious about a new chapter, but I almost cried as they just kept coming, even the short ones which just said that someone was still reading meant the world to me! :D**

**I am sorry, that this chapter took so long, but it simply got longer and longer and I am pretty much almost falling asleep on top of the keyboard right now, but I wanted to get this up as soon as possible. And because of the great number of reviews I won't answer them here, but in PMs :) I LOVE YOU ALL SO UNBELIEVABLY MUCH! *hug***

**Just a few things, that have been asked and pointed out:  
** ahin:** Thank you for the hint :) german has indeed a lot of commas and even there I am putting sometime too much in a text. x3 I'm trying to use less of them. :3**

wingyan1320:** I don't write lemons simply because I can't write them. I am already having enough truble with my kissing scenes, but I hope you'll still keep reading :3**

Satyana:** Sweety, thank you for sticking with me and encouraging me and simply being awesome. :) I hope you like this chapter ;) (8 days left) and I hope you'll find some fluff in there :)**

fictionfairytalesfantasy4921:** Your review meant so unbelievable much to me, that I can't even express my gratitude properly only through words. Thank you very very much. :) I hope the beginning of this chapter makes sense as well. :3**

**Disclaimer: Not mine, neither is the song 'Me neither' by Brad Paisley. Typos and other grammatical errors are mine.**

**Chapter 9**

In a way, Magnus had always been scared of humans or 'mundanes' as most demons called them. In the beginning he had been scared because humans were mean to him. They had hated him for his eyes, something he had no influence on. A humorless smile crossed his features whenever he thought back now; how he had tried to calm people by explaining them, that he had been born this way, that it hadn't been caused by something he had done, that he hadn't committed a sin. Nowadays those words sounded so painfully desperate to him. He had been desperate, desperate to be accepted, to be smiled at, to be cared for. As if anybody had ever listened to him.

It had taken him some time to understand that it was useless trying to gain their trust and it had taken him even longer to notice that he didn't need it to find a joy in life. Not yet happiness, but something better than hate and sadness. Surviving for a demon was easy, but staying sane was a completely different story. Most demons didn't care much about their sanity or self-control. They simply drowned in the blood of their slaughtered victims. They got high an the feeling of power which always came with killing. Magnus had always been scared to loose himself like that because it would make him the kind of demon everybody had seen him as when he was a child. But he wanted to prove them wrong, wanted to make his own way through the world and even if he'd never admit it out loud, a tiny part of him had wanted to show the human race that there was people didn't have to be afraid of him.

The fear of humans though had started with the with-hunts. It wasn't for the things they did to him or tried to because they were right - somehow - because he was a demon. The accusations against him were right. What he could do, could pass as witchcraft. But they hunted down, burned, slaughtered so many innocent people, humans. They killed their own race because they were blinded by hate and fear. It was this kind of pure hatred that made Magnus retreat into the shadows of the world, putting on a mask during day and walking only with his own kind in the night.

The very same shadows he felt himself being pulled out right now, like warm sheets being yanked away in the morning. Only slower and the sheets were actually kind of cold.

Alexander Lightwood was nothing special, a simple human, a dim light in a sea of bright stars, unremarkable, easily overlooked by those who searched the sky for the brightest light. He wasn't a shooting star, but whenever one would look up at the sky, he'd be there and only those found him who weren't afraid to search the darkness of the night sky. Those would find out that his hair was like cool silk to the touch like Magnus did when he slowly ran his fingers through it. But nobody looked for Alec, so nobody would come to steal him away. Nobody would take the calmness away that engulfed Magnus when Alec's lips cautiously moved against his own. The rest oft the world could just go to hell. Magnus didn't care. Not about the fear that had always ruled a part of his heart, not about those other bright shining stars with their piercing light which hurt the eyes.

But with the fear gone another part of Magnus stirred again, a part of the demon which he had buried a long time ago. He was a demon and demons were greedy creatures.

Every human had a distinct taste. Something that couldn't be tasted by the tongue. It wasn't sweet or sour or spicy. It was the sound of a soft chuckle, the mischievous gleam in crystal blue eyes, the scent of cold rain against warm skin ... it was the taste of the soul. The human's soul, that could only be tasted by a demon. It was the taste that made them so irresistible to most demon's because when a demon devoured a human it wasn't for the flesh or the blood, but for the soul.

Magnus felt fingers tangle with his own black strands, following the line of his neck, thumbs tracing his jaw. They were touches soft as a feather against his skin and every line traced soothed the pain of an old scar. A long forgotten hunger surfaced and for a moment Magnus was scared of himself, but then the moment passed and took the fear with it. His hands found Alec's hips, his fingertips found the skin beneath the way too big shirt and his tongue found the small gap between Alec's lips. Rain, night sky and winter wind became one when Alec let out a low moan as their tongues bruised. The detective's hands gripped the sides of Magnus' shirt in an attempt to bring them even closer together. And the demon's hunger was still there, but Magnus didn't want to feast on Alec's soul. He wanted to caress it. He wanted to make the young man fall asleep with a smile on his face, he wanted to make him gasp, wanted to make him laugh, wanted to matter in his life ... he wanted so much.

For once in his life Magnus wanted to be the good guy, but only partially because being the bad guy in certain matters was still a lot of fun. But only as long as Alec's smile was his, only his.

Magnus broke the kiss because his lungs started screaming. He smirked at Alec's dazed look and while his eyes stayed locked with the detective's blue orbs, Magnus let his finger slowly run up Alec's back tracing the tensing muscles beneath the heated skin. He followed the line of his spine till one hand reached the spot between Alec's shoulder blades and it was then that the young man gave into the touch leaning forward burying his face in the crook of Magnus' neck. His hot breath tickled the demon's skin and his fists still firmly holding onto the fabric of Magnus' shirt.

"I-I still have ... uhm, questions, you know, th-there are still ... around teen of them left." His voice only stumbled a little when Magnus let his hands roam freely again and the last words were only a low whisper.

"Of course", Magnus mumbled while his lips ghosted across the sensitive skin of Alec's neck. "And I will answer them all." He placed soft kisses with every word, simply enjoying to have Alec this close and - even if it was just for now - all to himself.

* * *

Alec had heard stories about how people weren't able to form complete sentences after a kiss or while being near their lover and at the moment he understood them, but at the same time he had to say, that they were wrong. He was able to form a question, a sentence, whatever there was. His brain still remembered how to make his lips articulate words. It was just, that right now, he didn't want to. He didn't want to break the silence between them. He didn't want to move. He felt warm and safe and he liked the feeling of the demon's fingertips caressing his skin. Was that what happiness tasted like?

Magnus smelled like oranges. A soft chuckle escaped his lips. The photograph of a bathtub came to mind and it also brought Alec back to reality. He couldn't get lost in the sensation of this moment, no matter how much he wanted to.

"Let's get back to business", he whispered as he disentangled himself from the thief. With a sad smile on his lips Magnus let him go. Their moment was over.

* * *

Magnus watched Alec closing the window, locking out the sounds of the waking city. He already regretted letting him go.

The floor of the living room was still one big mosaic of paper and photographs and with the sticky notes scattered in between like colorful snowflakes or like spots of splashed color. But without Alec sitting in the middle of this chaotic arrangement the picture didn't seem right. Incomplete. Magnus wondered if he would feel the same about any other room just because Alec was missing.

"Uhm, okay, I-I guess we can ... sit down, on the couch?" Magnus snapped out of his thoughts and turned to face the man standing next to him. Alec looked at him expectantly and Magnus remembered that he still had a question to answer. Couch?

"Sure, why not." He nodded and tried not to step on any of the papers lying on the floor as he made his way through the room. Alec had already reached the couch and was about to sit down when Magnus suddenly stopped. With a crooked smile on his lips he asked:

"Are you sure it is okay to let all of your researched material lie around like that?" Alec tilted his head and looked at Magnus with big round eyes. The thief almost squealed, but he refrained himself from doing so ... with great effort. "I mean as I am the object of your -" Alec cocked one eyebrow. "- investigation."

Silence grew between them and it wasn't awkward at all. Magnus raised both eyebrows expectantly and Alec sent him a devious smirk at which the demon almost lost it.

"No offense, but I don't think you'd get anything from my notes and without them all you get is a pile of paper", he uttered in a low voice that wasn't a whisper and which sent goosebumps up Magnus' arms.

With a second gaze across the paper-mosaic, he had to admit that Alec was right. There was not really a color code to the used sticky notes and written on them were capital letters, that didn't make sense, numbers and sometimes even just laughing, crying or crazy smileys. Also some of the notes were still empty. Magnus pursed his lips.

"I still could-", he began, but Alec cut him off with a pointed look.

"You've already seen it, so there's no turning back there anyway." He only shrugged and sank deeper into the cushions. His body was relaxed, but his eyes were still trained on Magnus in full alert. Magnus hadn't expected anything else, though for another reason then the one Alec explained after a short silence.

"So, are you going to sit down or will you just disappear again?"

He is scared that I run away again?, Magnus though and was surprised about the painful pang in his chest at that thought. And suddenly there was a fear of loosing ... of getting lost and not finding the way back between them.

* * *

Alec felt every muscle in his body tense. Magnus stood right next to the files he had gathered about the thief; the pictures of his beaten up body, the sketch of his demonized eyes. Why did he suddenly feel bad for having done his research? It was his job. He had never been ashamed of that. Was he now or was it something else?

"I will stay."

A humorless smile broke the tense line of Alec's lips.

"Sure", he muttered, "that's what they all say."

Finally Magnus took place next to him on the couch. Alec followed the thief's every movement with his eyes. He still felt the cold fear that he would disappear any second churning in his guts. Darker thoughts started to surface, but Alec lightly shook his head to chase them away.

"Okay, your first question? Well, the first one of the left over ten." Magnus smiled and it looked a bit helpless. Alec gulped and nodded. He took a deep breath and sorted his thoughts. Ten questions. He had to make the best out of this and he was willing to give any secret he had to offer for the answers.

All or nothing.

"What happened in Florida?"

For one second the slitted pupils of Magnus' eyes became such thin lines that they almost disappeared leaving only oceans of gold and green behind. The moment passed, but his eyes stayed shards of glass; cold and smooth and with edges so sharp that they could cut through anything. The thief pressed his lips into a thin bloodless line. He clenched his fists and Alec bit the inside of his cheek as he saw part of the black hair turning into smoke. But it didn't go further as that.

Come on, a little voice in Alec's head whispered, show me what your promises are worth. Magnus stayed were he was.

"A lot", he finally stated through gritted teeth.

It was clearly a delicate topic, but if Alec would shy away from addressing them he'd clearly have the wrong job. The important thing in these situation was to move carefully. He gulped.

"What made you move to New York?" He tried to keep his voice soft and low and to catch every movement of the thief. The pucker between his eyebrows, the way the slitted pupils narrowed again, got wider and turned once again into those thin lines he had seen before, the slight shiver that ran up and down his arms. In the end Magnus his his hands beneath his upper legs pressing them into the cushions.

"An order." His voice faltered and got softer with every word.

* * *

Magnus would have laughed at the open surprise on Alec's face. Yeah, he would have, if his insides wouldn't feel like being cut out with a cold knife at the moment. He had forgotten that the detective had already found the connection to their time in Florida. On one hand Magnus would rather have his inside cut out for real than talk about 'what happened in Florida', but on the other hand he felt a weird wave of relief crush over him. All those years with Ragnor and Catarina, they had known what happened, but they had never talked about it. The words had never left their mouths, they had hung above them like the guillotine of their past. All those years Magnus had always wondered what would happen when he'd finally talk about it, really talk about it.

But only his curiosity of what would come wasn't enough to make his lips form the words. The pain in his guts stayed, pierced his insides.

"An order? What kind of order?"

Magnus tilted his head and let his look graze Alec's raven-black hair wandering back into the past, back to Miami, back to the morning he had spent feeling nothing but sting numbness.

"The nonnegotiable kind of order", he whispered and felt like crying, screaming, laughing at the same time. From the corner of his eye Magnus could see Alec examine him quietly.

"Would you tell me the story of that order?", he asked after while and his voice didn't quite break the growing silence, it simply was laced into it, only softly stroking the surface.

"Will you promise me not to judge what I did too harshly after I'm finished?" His own voice was hoarse and the words scratched on the inside of his throat. The pain felt good. Everything was better than the numbness from back then.

"No, the judgement of a person by his or her actions isn't something that can be controlled ... it happens automatically." Only the first part sounded like quoted from a textbook and with the passing moments Magnus felt more like laughing than crying. Why the hell did he feel so safe when he was alone with this young man? He smiled and it only slipped a little bit.

"Right answer, detective." He could hear the tears in his own voice, but the burning behind his eyelids was missing. Was it a good sign or only a sign that he was loosing his sanity in spite of everything? "Okay", Magnus took one last deep breath, "once upon time there were four thieves in Miami. Three of them were part-demon and one was a real demon, but they still became good friends and they started working together. One day, one of the part-demon thieves with the name Tessa Gray met a charming young man and fell in love. When she got married the other tree thieves came to her wedding and wished her all of the luck in the world. In the end they were friends in the first place and being thieves came afterwards. Tessa told them, that she would stop being a thief and the others were okay with because they stayed friends. After a few years the remaining three thieves got a phone call. A voice ordered them to break in at the Pérez Art Museum to steal a certain object which was about to be displayed there. The thieves didn't take the call seriously because they never broke into museums - it was against their principles - and second they weren't scared of the voice. It hadn't been a 'Do this or else'-order, so they didn't take it seriously and ignored it. One day after the break-in should have happened they heard about a big explosion at the inner city. The thieves read an article about it in the newspaper. It had been the house of a little family that had died in the explosion; the remains of one woman, one man and a child had been found and so far only the woman had been identified ... she was registered as Tessa Gray."

Old wounds hurt the most when they were forcefully torn open again. A part of Magnus felt horrified, not at the memories, but at the fact that he wasn't able to cry because of the pain. He bit his lower lips. He wanted to close his, but he was scared, scared of the pictures that would come to life again.

"With the next phone call the order to move to Houston was delivered", Magnus whispered his voice fading more and more, "so, we moved and acted on those orders since then. Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada ... we've been so many places since then."

"What?", Alec exclaimed, "but there were no other break-ins recorded with-"

With a bitter smile the tears finally started flowing, drawing red lines across Magnus' face, leaving burning traces.

"The paw prints?", the thief, who wanted to only be a demon at the moment almost spit the words out with burning anger in his eyes. "How would anybody have seen a connection between the break-ins without the paw prints, hm? That bastard even told me when to bring my cat. It is perfectly controllable which break-ins the police would gather in one file. The others might have happened in the same time period, but nobody would ever get the connection and how would they? We don't leave any traces ..." His voice rose till Magnus was almost screaming, but then it got softer again broken by desperate sobs till it was hardly audible in the end. "I don't leave any traces. I've been so many places, that I lost count long ago."

Magnus buried his face in his hands and simply cried all those tears he never had the courage to let them flow.

* * *

When Alec had still lived with his family they had had a cat named Sissi. A big red-striped cat with mean eyes. Isabelle had always crept up behind the cat to scare her and then chase it through the house. Afterwards Alec had spent hours lying on the floor in from of cupboards and beds to coax Sissi into coming out again. Despite her questionable behavior Isabelle had loved that cat and only as the hyperactive child she had been she had some problems with expressing her affection. One day when Isabelle once again chased the cat the front door was open and the cat stormed outside across the street and was hit by a car. Three days later Sissi had died. Isabelle had locked herself inside her room crying for a whole day because she blamed herself. Back then Alec had spent hours in front of her door trying to coax her into opening it like he had done so many times with the cat. They had ended up on Isabelle's bed huddled together under the blanket with two bowls of ice cream in the middle of the night. He had listened to Isabelle's sobbing and sniveling, stroking her back whispering soothing nonsense about a heaven just for cats or how loving someone didn't end with death, till his sister had calmed down. They had fallen asleep next to each other and were grounded for the next week for eating ice cream in bed. It had been a great week.

Now Alec felt himself reminded of sitting in front of Isabelle's door, but he doubted that a blanket and ice cream could still solve problems like it had been possible back then. He still wished it'd be that way.

"Why were you afraid of my judgement for your actions? I mean, it hadn't been your fault-", Alec started in a calmer voice, but he stopped when Magnus looked had him through his fingers which still covered most of his face. His shoulders were still shaking lightly, but his sobbing was hardly audible anymore. He sniffed and removed his hands from his face to swipe the remaining tears away. The following smile cut have cut through glass.

"Do you really think we hadn't discussed that first phone call? If we should take it seriously." Alec had the feeling that however he'd answer it would be wrong, so he just shrugged which earned him a soft chuckle that was hollow and brimming with desperate pain. "Of course we did, we even had a vote." The chuckle turned into the most humorless laughter Alec had ever heard. "But I told them to keep cool, that nobody would be able to harm us in any way. They are part-demon, I am a full demon. Who could possibly ..." Magnus trailed off his eyes looking at a point that wasn't there and when he continued talking, Alec had the feeling that he wasn't talking to him anymore. "Catarina said, what about Tessa, and I only laughed. She is safe, I said, she's not a thief anymore why should she be targeted? We don't even know if whoever called knows about her. Don't worry, she is safe, don't worry, we are safe, nobody can harm us, nothing can hurt us. I talked so many shit. It's not a question if anybody can harm you, but if anybody can harm the ones you care about. And they were so angry afterwards and I was furious, too. We hated, we screamed, we cried. We decided to hunt him down, but he found out and warned us not to go against him. Once again, I told them, that we couldn't let anybody order us around like that. Then Catarina had a lead ... she had a lead and was wounded two days later. She almost died of blood loss. We stopped looking after that."

With these last words something inside of Alec broke. His plan to catch this thief shattered into thousand pieces. Magnus needed to be caught, but not because he broke the law, but because he was falling.

* * *

Magnus let out a shuddering breath and felt a part of the weight he had carried through the past years being washed away. He felt hollow and tired, but in a good way. Yes, it had been his fault and he had said it out loud. It was oddly satisfying to having told Alec this part of his part. His eyes were locked on his hands, clenching them into fists, splaying them again. From the corner of his eye he noticed that Alec was moving, but he didn't want to look up. He'd probably stand up to call his colleagues at the NYPD to arrest him. But Magnus didn't plan on getting arrested to-

His thoughts came to an abrupt halt when suddenly two arms were wrapped around him and he found himself being caught in a tight embrace. First he thought, that the handcuffs were next (in a totally non-sexual way) and his body tensed, but then he could feel how Alec moved his thumb in soothing circles across his right shoulder blade. The detective didn't say anything. He simply hugged him and let Magnus bury his face in the crook of his neck. They stayed like this for a while. Magnus slowly started drowning in the warmth of the hug, the even pattern of Alec's breathing, the scent of his skin that had something of a sunny morning after a stormy night.

"It was your fault."

"Yeah, it was."

The demon smiled against the human's skin and it felt like home.

* * *

"Have you ever been in love?" Magnus' voice was slightly muffled, but Alec could still hear him. The same moment he felt his face heating up and was actually glad about the fact that the thief didn't look at him right now.

"Uhm, yes, I guess you can say that", he replied remembering their game and hoping that he wouldn't pass out from the blushing. "How about you?"

A soft chuckle tickled the skin of his neck and vibrated trough his chest. "Over 800 years are plenty of time to fall in love." Alec flinched slightly as he felt a kiss placed on the side of his neck. He bit his lower lip and tried to silently force his heartbeat to slow down again.

"So, you have?"

Another kiss.

"Plenty of times."

Another kiss. Alec smiled despite himself. His cheeks were burning red, but he started to get used to feeling those warm lips against his skin. It was ... nice.

"First kiss?"

He would so definitely pass out if this kept going. For a few seconds Alec contemplated to lie, but then again, he was an awful liar.

"You."

At that Magnus' head shot up from his shoulder and almost hit Alec's nose, but his reflexes saved him from a possible serious accident.

"Seriously?" The thief looked at him as if he had just admitted that he worked part-time in a strip club. "That time at the Daryaran-villa was your first kiss?"

Alec avoided to directly look at him. He chewed his lower lip and finally nodded embarrassed. He really hoped that Isabelle would never catch that detail of his non-existent love life. Jace knew, but Alec had him swear that he would never tell anybody. Mganus tilted his head examining Alec a few more moments before speaking again.

"So ... you are also still a virgin?"

And there it was. The proof that one's face could get redder than a tomato. But while his face felt like burning up, his stomach felt like it was filled with ice. Alec swallowed heavily. He hated that topic of conversation, but as Magnus had already shared a dark part of his past ... it would be only fair to do the same. Right?

"No", Alec whispered with a snort, "no, I am not."

He hated the memories of that night. Since then he also hated the taste of vodka. It made him sick and he felt disgusted with himself that he had lost control like that. It was also the reason for his aversion to parties.

"You lost your first kiss to me and then lost your virginity to somebody else? I am hurt, Mister."

Alec snapped out of his darkening thoughts and blinked at Magnus. It took him a few moments till he understood. "Wha-? Oh, no, it happened in college."

The look of feigned hurt followed the one of utter confusion crossed the thief's face. "First your virginity and then the first kiss? How dies that work?"

"With certain amount of alcohol and the right asshole that wants a boy-toy for the night because he's bored ... well, a lot of things can happen." Saying those words out loud was much like chewing a broken glass. Unconsciously Alec tightened his hold of Magnus, but he still didn't dare to look at him, too afraid of the pity in his eyes which would be the last thing he needed right now. He didn't like to talk or think or being reminded of it, but he was over it i his own way. Jace had urged him to see a psychologist or psychiatrist or whoever else about it, but Alec had refused and still did. That's it, things happen ... well, shit happens.

"Wow, wait", Magnus mused and tapped Alec's chin to make the detective look at him. "Does that mean, he got you into bed, but passed on the chance to kiss you?"

Alec knitted his brows. "We ... he kind of skipped that part. Why?"

At that Magnus looked at him as if the answer was obvious. But instead of answering he just smirked and brought their lips together. It was a slow, savoring kiss and Alec felt his painful memories drifting away. He didn't even know the name of that guy anymore, nor his face. Magnus' lips moved against his, the thief's tongue brushed against his bottom lip and his arms were wrapped around his waste. What did an asshole from college matter compared to this. Not at all. Way too soon, Magnus pulled away again, but only a little bit. They were still close enough for their quickened breathing to mingle.

"I would never do that", the demon whispered against the detective's lips.

"Is that a promise?" Magnus smirked and was just about to answer as the melody of 'Me neither' sounded from the kitchen. Alec flinched at the sound and jumped up from the couch. "Damn", he exclaimed, "I have to get that." With a last look at Magnus he rushed out of the living room to grab his mobile phone from the kitchen table.

When he came back the living room was empty. Alec stood in the doorway to the living for about ten minutes before he finally managed to call Jace back.

**Leave a review and tell me what you think of it :)**

**I'm also thinking of getting a beta for this story (for the commas, typos, and so on) and wanted to ask if somebody would like to do it. I don't want to bother any of you, just asking. :) If there is interest, send me a PM. If not, just keep reading. :3  
**

**LOVE YOU!  
Bye Pumpkin**


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